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Help SCHS build an archive of COVID-19 stories

Members and Friends: We are all making history right now, as we live through the COVID-19 pandemic. It's an emergency of historic proportions, and has been compared to the Black Plague, or the 1918 Spanish Flu. Like those past crises, COVID-19 will be a major topic of study for future historians. Years from now, Schenectadians will look back and wonder, “how did the COVID-19 pandemic affect Schenectady County? How did our ancestors respond to the crisis?” "What was life like for people quarantined, for months?" You can help future researchers understand for themselves what life right now is like. You can help future historians understand the pandemic's immense impact on our community, and on ourselves, and on our way of life. You can help future historians understand how this international emergency changed your life, and changed our world, forever. Consider recording your unique perspective for inclusion in the SCHS archives. Diaries, scrapbooks, photo albums, letters, songs, poems, short stories, and other works of art are all important sources for future historians. Be creative: there are infinite ways you can express yourself, and document the impact of COVID-19 on you, your loved ones, and your neighbors. Help us, by: Contributing to a global collection: https://covid19.omeka.net/ Share your story using our form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeHgEsVMdH6NBHjFKx_QxVwa5_H4rZSKIQ71e_XkjhfWMeiXg/viewform Creating a personal diary, scrapbook, or photo album (analog/physically or digitally) Collecting the letters, emails, and notes that you’ve created or received to stay in touch or communicate with others during this difficult time of isolation The COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impact is an on-going, changing situation. It will take time to document how we are all affected. If you have questions about ways you can contribute to the SCHS archive collection, or about documenting your experiences, contact the SCHS librarian, Marietta Carr, at librarian@schenectadyhistorical.org Wishing you and your loved ones the very best. Be in touch and be safe.

Virtual Exhibitions

While SCHS is closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, we invite you to view our online exhibitions: Handcrafted: The Folk and Their Art at https://indd.adobe.com/view/b06c2b57-3098-47ec-a417-e4b34378bcff Changing Downtown: The Rise, the Raze, and the Revitalization of Schenectady at https://indd.adobe.com/view/f6b96ae2-9988-469e-8b62-b6f32817a695 The Wizard of Schenectady: Charles Proteus Steinmetz at https://indd.adobe.com/view/e1090a87-2b04-43cf-8e0a-5639f662b737 and a map of the historic Mabee Farm at https://indd.adobe.com/view/b8a497d1-8ca2-4d13-b61c-cdd88d9ed8a1

POSTPONED: In Cold Blood: True Crime Reading & Discussion Group

This winter, make time for thinking deeply about a single idea from a variety of perspectives. Led by City Historian Chris Leonard, this reading and discussion series invites participants to delve into the history and literature of American crime. We'll meet five times, to discuss five pioneering works of new journalism and true crime writing. At each session, participants will come together with others in our community to discuss what we've read. Dates (6pm-7:30pm): -Feb. 26: Defining True Crime (Book: Compulsion, selections from True Crime: An American Anthology) -Mar. 11: Writing True Crime (Book: The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York) -Mar. 25: POSTPONED -Apr. 8: POSTPONED -Apr. 22: True Crime outside of books (selections from True Crime: An American Anthology, selected clips from podcasts/TV/movies) -May 6: Crimes that changed us (Book: Kitty Genovese: The Murder, the Bystanders, the Crime that Changed America) -May 20: Serial killers and True Crime (Book: Blind Eye: The Terrifying Story of a Doctor who Got Away with Murder) Books are available to borrow from SCHS with a small security deposit. To register, email librarian@schenectadyhistorical.org or call 518-374-0263x3