A new Elgin History Museum You Are Living History project is asking the public to provide digital content, first-person accounts and reactions/thoughts to the ongoing protests and other responses to the George Floyd death and the Black Lives Matter movement.
The museum launched a similar effort earlier this year to document real-time experiences during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and its impact on everyday life.
In conjunction with its newest endeavor, a questionnaire to capture people’s thoughts and experiences has been posted on elginhistory.org website. It touches on several topics museum officials hope the public will be willing to discuss, with questions that include:
Were you able to participate in any of the protests in Elgin or elsewhere?
What did you see/witness as either a protester or bystander?
How did police react to the protesters?
How did you feel about participating?
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If you have children, did you bring them to the protest?
Media coordinator Trish LaFleur said the questions are merely suggestions, and people can answer and share however they see fit. The living history project is open to anyone, including those who do not live in Elgin.
“We’re hoping people will give us not just, ‘Oh, I went to a rally with 100 people,'” she said. “I’m hoping they give us more about how they feel emotionally.”
Photos and videos can be emailed to museum curator Beth Nawara at [email protected]. Nawara said she expects there is more visual content for the protests that has been available during the pandemic and the associated stay-at-home order and other restrictions.
As part of the Black Lives Matter component of the project, Nawara and LaFleur said they are hoping to preserve some of the graffiti art and messages found on the boards being used to protect downtown stores from potential violence.
In a Facebook post Thursday, officials said they have arranged to collect at least one of the painted boards from a downtown business.
“We don’t know what is going to happen to (them). That is why we have contacted some of the businesses. What we don’t want is for these boards to end up in a dumpster,” Nawara said. “While we have photographed some of them, we hope we can get a sign or two.”
Like with the coronavirus You Are Living History project, the collected content and comments will be stored in the museum’s archives and used in future museum exhibits. No decisions have been about how the material will be presented or when.
Nawara said they will be collecting digital content, written accounts and other things for both campaigns through the end of the year.
So far, they’ve received content from more than 50 people about the pandemic, Nawara said.