(Photo: Pixabay)

Have you kept a diary throughout these unprecedented, uncertain, chaotic – you name it – times?

The Chippewa Valley Museum is collecting journals for its Dear Diary program, which encouraged Chippewa Valley residents to record their experience of the “Safer at Home” coronavirus quarantine from March 25-May 20.

“The Dear Diary program will preserve the experiences of a diversity of people so that 100 years from now, people will know what it was like to live through a pandemic.” –Carrie Ronnander, Chippewa Valley Museum

“Since the start of the pandemic in the U.S., there has been quite a bit of discussion about (the) 1918 influenza pandemic,” said Carrie Ronnander, the director of the museum. “However, local accounts of the 1918 pandemic do not exist, so we don’t really know how people experienced the pandemic here. The Dear Diary program will preserve the experiences of a diversity of people so that 100 years from now, people will know what it was like to live through a pandemic.”

Diaries turned in before July 4 are eligible for prize drawings. (There are three categories: children, teens, and adults.)

Diaries can be brought to the museum during their open hours (Tuesday 1-8pm, Wednesday-Friday 1-5pm, Saturday 10am-5pm) or emailed to j.kiffmeyer@cvmuseum.com. Copies are acceptable if the author would like to keep the original. Submitters should provide the age of the author and complete a donation form either digitally or in person. The diaries will be kept in the Glen Curtis Smoot Library and Archive.

For more information about the Dear Diary Program, visit the museum’s website at www.cvmuseum.com/get-involved/diary-project.