HR Newsletters 2021

Documentation of Life and Reflections for Growth

Dr. Krystal Thurman

I n July 2020, a New York Times article by Leslie M. M. Blume encouraged readers to journal about their experiences and to collect artifacts, ephemera, and other items of significance related to 2020 and the pandemic. Museum curators across the country began imploring people to “preserve personal materials for posterity, and for possible inclusion in museum archives.” People like you and me were wanted as field collectors – those who would collect and curate histor- ical material that reflected 2020. Some of you may already be field collectors without actually realizing it. Perhaps you collect items that remind you of major life events, experiences, travels, and more. You might write in a journal or video journal. During the pandemic, you’ve probably collected a competition worthy number of memes. Ephemera might include written planners once filled with appointments and social engagements now crossed through and empty for months on end. Certainly we all have at least a handful of photos of ourselves, family, and friends wearing masks. All of this documentation is a field collection and it matters for posterity and for personal reflection. 2020 and early 2021 is a time period none of us will soon forget. It brought about hardships, loss, and sadness as well as great joy and renewed focus about our lives. The article in reference, as well as subsequent news articles about mu- seum collections focused on COVID-19 era artifacts, gave me pause. Journaling my experiences has never been a pre- ferred activity nor has blogging or vlogging. I don’t collect many keepsakes or memorabilia, much to my mother’s cha- grin. Now with the notion of my items – my artifacts and ephemera – being significant enough to belong to a museum collection, I begin to wonder my limited collection would say about me and my relationship with the challenges of the past year. It has caused me a fair amount of reflection about how the year treated me and how I treated it. While many obstacles confronted me and my family during the year that I would prefer to forget, I know it is necessary to re- visit those moments at times. If you’re like me, you prefer to box up difficult times and store them away in your mind to be forgotten. I’ve learned that revisiting, however, can be a valuable growth tool. A way to build emotional resilien- cy. When visiting a museum, we are often seeking to learn and experience a time gone by, a pivotal moment in history, and a collection that evokes emotion. Not all museum collections are positive and uplifting. In fact, many times, the collections are connected to times of challenge. Museum collections cause us to process, reflect, and apply infor- mation to future situations. The same happens when we revisit and reflect upon our own collection of artifacts, ephemera, journal articles, and memorabilia. Rather than curating a collection for a museum, we could focus on curating a collection for our own personal growth and resiliency. It was a difficult year, but the hard times taught us tremendous lessons. The lessons learned are significant and important to our emotional resiliency in life and the work- place. So, be encouraged to revisit the good and bad times of 2020. Allow yourself to reflect. Not all experiences were bad and not all lessons were good. It’s our actions moving forward that carry the most impact.

Source: Blume, L.M. M. (2020). This year will end eventually. Document it while you can. New York Times . https:// www.nytimes.com/2020/07/14/style/museums-coronavirus-protests-2020.html

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