The pandemic has certainly transformed daily life. A new exhibit at the University of Nevada, Reno wants to capture history with a pandemic exhibit. Inside Lincoln Hall where he works as head of UNR’s Shared History Program, Professor Christopher von Nagy says the first Coronavirus exhibit is already taking shape: “People are sending pictures of their kids, you know? It’s how they're dealing with it."
So far the exhibit has the name, "Pandemic Stories." The goal is to capture how COVID-19 transformed daily life in Nevada. Professor von Nagy is working to put it all together. The idea came from his students: "The students are like, we'd like to do something like this. And OK, let's do it, right? Let's get started."
The exhibit will capture peak moments of historical change…a visual document of the history through which we are all living through right now. Von Nagy describes it as “a project to study how we experienced and contextualized the pandemic…the quarantine, the whole bit."
As much as this pandemic has changed daily life, it shouldn't be hard to find examples. Masks, journal entries…maybe a Zoom meeting screen. Photos of do-it-yourself haircuts or formerly crowded city spaces that became empty…will all be displayed in the gallery space inside Lincoln Hall. Von Nagy says, “What's interesting is what people are choosing to send. It's what's important to them."
Whatever they receive, whether donated or loaned, will be from the locals who lived through it, “Anything from hand sanitizer bottles from local distilleries to homemade masks.”
This is what the Shared History Program at UNR is all about: community collaboration, and reaction. Von Nagy tells me, "We want them to be provoked. We want them to think. That's our job." He and his students are working to document these months and what they looked like, all while reminding us of the time...we really don't want to live through again.
The deadline to submit your memories and materials is September 1st of this year. Write with what you have to this email: shared history@unr.edu. The exhibit plans to open late next year on campus at Lincoln Hall.
