How Are Museums and Governments Collecting Around COVID-19?
December 1, 2020 | 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM (Pacific)
Join curators and historians for an engaging series of panels offering perspectives on the current pandemic. Panelists will virtually share objects from the past as a springboard to a lively discussion of how to better understand the present. Audience questions are encouraged and will be addressed in the moderated dialogue.
COVID-19 has dramatically altered the United States, impacting almost every aspect of every-day life. For museums that document the history of their local communities, collecting around COVID-19 has posed multiple challenges. Panelists from different community museums will share their thoughts on the pandemic’s impact on their communities and discuss how they have approached documenting and collecting around this seminal event.
Moderator: Alexandra Lord, PhD, National Museum of American History
Panelists: Anne Madarasz, PhD, Heinz History Center, Rebecca Klassen, New York Historical Society, and Jason Hanson, History Colorado
The National Museum of American History is launching an engaging series of talks through February 2021 that combine questions raised by the current pandemics and historic objects in the national collections. Curators and historians will virtually share objects, using them as a springboard for a lively discussion that explores how the past can help us better understand the present. Audience members will have the opportunity to pose questions and help guide the conversations. The format will be a moderated dialogue among the panelists with the audience posing additional questions.
All Pandemic Perspective discussions will be held from 4:00-5:00pm eastern time. All events are free and registration is required.
This program is brought to you in partnership with the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History
