Buxton Museum and Art Gallery appeals for lockdown memories

Buxton Museum and Art Gallery are looking to collect stories, experiences and objects relating to everyday life in Buxton during lockdown for Covid-19 and the weeks afterwards. Museum staff want to create a historical record to show people in the future what it was like living in Buxton during this extraordinary time.

Derbyshire County Council Leader and Cabinet Member for Strategic Leadership, Culture and Tourism Councillor Barry Lewis said: “We recognise how important and necessary it is to gather this history now, especially people’s own stories, as the town comes out of lockdown over the next few months.

A time capsule for 2020

“While the museum is not yet ready to welcome visitors back, staff are asking residents of Buxton to think about what they might want to include in this collection, a time capsule for 2020. What would you put into the museum to tell future generations about this time? What might your great grandchildren want to see, many years in the future?”

Residents who have made a record they would like to share should let the museum know. It could be:

• Something you made, something you wore, something that kept you safe – an object that you might like to consider donating (at a later date), with information and stories associated with it
• Photographs you took of everyday life, with information about why you took them
• Short videos or vlogs which captured your thoughts, moments, or ‘a day in the life’ (not longer than five minutes)
• Written thoughts, poems or music, recalling your life in lockdown.

What was life like in lockdown? How did you do things differently?

Museum staff are asking people to think about issues like: What will interest people in the future? Can we capture how going shopping is different from before? What was life like in lockdown, with people working at home, home schooling, shielding and staying safe? How did people pass the time? What did you do?

Did you pick up old pastimes or take up new hobbies? Where did you do for your daily exercise outside, where did you go and what did you see? Did your street look different? Did you get to know and share time at social distance with your neighbours? Or were you so shielded that you saw and spoke to nobody? Did people in your street do anything special for the NHS clap?

Any local residents who have ideas, objects, pictures or special stories that they believe should be kept should send an e-mail to [email protected] with the subject Buxton Covid-19 Project.

Meanwhile, the museum team will begin to shape the collection which will last for hundreds of years. The museum cannot collect anything formally yet, so people are asked not to visit to drop items off. The curators will make a selection to add to the permanent collections and invite some residents to bring their material to the museum once it re-opens and they can collect material safely. Residents are being urged not to break any current government guidelines as they collect items or take photographs, and to adhere to social distancing at all times. For further information please contact [email protected]