DERRY, New Hampshire. — History is being documented inside the Derry Public Library. Librarian Erin Robinson recently launched a project called the Pandemic Diaries.
“I think it can be cathartic to sit down and write down on the good and the bad and the ugly and not filter yourself,” she said.
Robinson is collecting all sorts of submissions from Derry residents to keep a record to show how they’re coping with the pandemic and how it has affected them.
“There’s a little more anxiety I’m noticing in the current letters that are coming in,” Robinson said.
Most residents write letters, others send in artwork, some even submit pictures, like Marielle Mugford.
“I think parents kind of just kept on trucking through because they didn’t have any more options. I really wanted to document that experience of being a parent working from home with your children at home,” she said.
Mugford submitted a picture of her trying to work on her laptop, with it raised above her head while taking care of her two young daughters. She believes the picture likely hits home for so many working parents now forced to work from home.
“I think once everybody probably had to lift that laptop out of the way of the kids juggling multiple things at once. So I think people can certainly relate to it,” she said.
The library plans to preserve the diaries inside the New Hampshire room for future generations. Robinson, who studied genealogy at Boston University, said often times when you’re looking at historical material you’re looking at records and maybe government papers, so that makes this project unique.
“To have one precious item or document written by your ancestor, there’s nothing better than that,” she said.
The Derry Public Library also is partnering with the Derry Museum of History and Derry Community Access Media to collect oral histories from town residents.
To learn more about the Pandemic Diaries, click on this link: https://pandemicdiariesderry.wordpress.com/
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