Lillian Fowler, 9, of Santa Fe poses at her home on Monday. She submitted her journal on her coronavirus pandemic experiences for a New Mexico History Museum virtual exhibit.
Angela Gibbs of Pecos poses at home with her kids Aliyah Martinez, 11, left, and Gilbert Martinez, 6, on Monday. She submitted her journal on her coronavirus pandemic experiences for a New Mexico History Museum virtual exhibit.
Lillian Fowler, 9, of Santa Fe poses at her home on Monday. She submitted her journal on her coronavirus pandemic experiences for a New Mexico History Museum virtual exhibit.
She has big plans for the future — she wants to study architecture when she is older, Lillian said — but for now, her life is turned upside down by COVID-19.
“It’s weird being home,” the 9-year-old Santa Fe girl wrote in a journal entry earlier this month. “It’s weird because we’re doing all our work on the computer instead of on paper. I don’t get to see my friends in person. We don’t get to hang out together and hug.”
There is an upside for Lillian during the statewide school shutdown: “I’m really getting to know my parents,” she wrote.
She ends the entry on a positive note. “Note from me: We have got this.”
Lillian’s account is one of a few dozen submitted so far to the New Mexico History Museum for an upcoming virtual exhibit, The Quarantine Diaries Collection. The goal of the project is to capture and preserve the personal experiences of a broad range of New Mexico people in the grip of the pandemic.
In the short term, the collection will allow residents to share their stories with others — economic struggles, fears, grief and even small blessings — in a time when many people remain isolated in their homes.
It also has historical significance, State Historian Robert Martínez said.
Such stories are the kinds of primary sources historians will one day study to learn about the novel coronavirus and how it impacted communities and culture, he said.
Kathleen Dull, a librarian and archivist for the Fray Angélico Chávez History Library who is heading the project, said submissions can be in any creative form, including graphic novels, letters, poems or narrative accounts. There is no limit to the length of a submission, she said.
The museum already has received handwritten accounts from schoolchildren and emails from college classrooms, and will continue collecting submissions through the end of the year.
“We’re hoping for as many stories as possible so that we can build a collection that is as complete as possible and accurately reflects the experience of New Mexicans in all parts of the state,” Dull said.
Throughout history, people have documented ways that pandemics and plagues affected them, in some cases creating lessons that have endured.
“Uses of poems, songs and dichos, sayings we have in Spanish, are a way to pass knowledge on and teach children,” Martínez said. “Just like ‘Ring around the Rosie’ is actually a song about the black plague, not just a child’s rhyme.”
Sharing stories is an important way to relate to each other now, he said, and will help other people in the future understand the experiences.
“Diaries will help us know how individuals responded, and how we saw ourselves,” Martínez said. “One of the points for setting history is learning about ourselves.”
Angela Gibbs of Pecos poses at home with her kids Aliyah Martinez, 11, left, and Gilbert Martinez, 6, on Monday. She submitted her journal on her coronavirus pandemic experiences for a New Mexico History Museum virtual exhibit.
Luis Sánchez Saturno/The New Mexican
Angela Gibbs of Pecos, who works as a receptionist at the New Mexico History Museum, said she saw TheQuarantine Diaries Collection as a way to keep her “work family” in the loop as she, her husband and children self-isolate in Pecos. She and her two kids, ages 6 and 11, submitted diary entries.
In the meantime, the family is trying to maintain ties with friends and loved ones through technology, Gibbs said. “Everything is online now,” she said. “Between Webex, Zoom, FaceTime, iMessage — we try to stay connected by any connection possible.”
In her journal entry, Gibbs wrote, “Personally for me, it’s a blessing in one way. During this pandemic ... I am mom/teacher and working at home from sun up to sun down. Yes, I’m able to be home with my kids during this time and explain to them that all will be ok at some point.”
She wrote about the strain of needing to “mask up,” put gloves on and wipe everything down each time she returns home from a trip to the store.
“I pray for all of those who are in fear, those with high anxiety, those with any health situations, but mostly for all this to come to and end,” Gibbs wrote.
Submissions to The Quarantine Diaries Collection will be available to read on New Mexico Digital Collections, through the University of New Mexico Libraries, and will be compiled into a virtual exhibit following a redesign of the New Mexico History Museum’s website.
“It’s one of the top priorities at the moment,” Dull said of the redesigned website, “and I think it is getting close to being rolled out.”
