The New Brunswick Museum continues to collect stories, artifacts related to COVID-19 pandemic

NB pandemic stories: History in the making The New Brunswick Museum has collected personal, first-hand accounts of coping with COVID-19 in the province.

SAINT JOHN — New Brunswick’s provincial museum is continuing its efforts to document the local impacts of COVID-19 for generations to come.

In April, the New Brunswick Museum asked residents to send in written or illustrated reflections of what their life was like during the pandemic.

Felicity Osepchook, the head of the museum’s archives and research library, said nearly 80 submissions were sent in.

"The youngest was a six-year-old and the oldest was an 86-year-old,” said Osepchook.

The museum posted some of the reflections received to its website, and submissions are still being accepted.

“I read them all and they were very thought provoking, very moving and they expressed ideas of concern for loved ones and ideas for activities to relieve stress,” said Osepchook.

“This is great for future generations, for information and guidance.”

The museum is also collecting artifacts from the pandemic, with a focus on how local residents adapted to extraordinary circumstances.

Peter Larocque, the museum’s curator of cultural history and art, said vials from some of the first COVID-19 vaccines administered in the province will also be part of that collection.

Staff at the New Brunswick Museum were moved to document the current pandemic, after discovering there wasn’t much on file about the 1918 pandemic.

“We have to make sure this time, 100-years from now, when somebody comes back and looks and says, ‘what happened in 2020?’, we will have some evidence,” said Larocque.