Press Release

Now & Later: Everyday Lives Become Pandemic’s Official History

#DoingMyPartCO | #HistoryColorado | historycolorado.org/covid-19

DENVER, Colo. (April 14, 2020) — What exactly happened in this rapidly developing moment, and how will future Coloradans make sense of it all? History Colorado has launched an inclusive, agile collecting campaign to rise to this challenge.

PRESS CONTACT
John Eding, Manager of Communications and PR
303-594-2133 | john.eding@state.co.us

All people in Colorado are encouraged to participate in the project, known as History in the Making, as an individual or as part of a community.

There are myriad ways to contribute. Anyone can share their story by completing a survey (in English or Spanish), creating and sharing a journal, leaving a voicemail, submitting photos and videos, or donating objects. Resources, guidelines, and instructions are available via historycolorado.org/covid-19.

“Our understanding of our shared history has often been shaped by those who had access to a microphone or could get their views published,” says Jason Hanson, chief creative officer, History Colorado. “Today we have the tools to ensure that many other voices shape the story of how we put this pandemic into the past. The result will be a much more informed understanding of what life was like for all of us, and why we made the decisions we did.”

One of the nation’s most innovative collaborative journalism networks is taking advantage of this effort. More than 40 news outlets in the state will connect their audiences with History in the Making through the Colorado Media Project (CMP), the nonprofit dedicated to helping Colorado news outlets build capacity, collaboration, and community. In turn, through CMP’s COLab collaborative newsroom, reporters and journalists in the state will have access to the resources collected by History Colorado for their own COVID-19 Coverage Network.

“Journalism is often described as the first draft of history,” notes Melissa Milios Davis, interim director of the Colorado Media Project. “This collaboration between the Colorado Media Project and History Colorado will widen and clear the path between today’s reporting and tomorrow’s history books. Both will be more inclusive and comprehensive than ever before.”

Facilitated by the staff and resources of History Colorado’s eight museums throughout the state, History in the Making is the most expansive contemporary collecting initiative ever conducted by History Colorado. It draws on strategies developed during recent collecting activities surrounding topics such as the 2019 climate-change protests, the 2014 legal recognition of same-sex marriage, and the legalization of recreational cannabis in 2012.

The project is also rooted in History Colorado’s Museum of Memory public history initiative. Through concepts and strategies of co-authorship, Museum of Memory gathers communities together and creates space for individuals to actively and energetically participate in crafting a shared historic record. These communities transform challenges and struggles into histories of resilience and pride. History Colorado will engage a dozen community partners through its Museum of Memory network.

To partner with History Colorado on COVID-19 school projects and curricula, contact Caite Plunkett, Classroom Programs Manager, at caitlin.plunkett@state.co.us.

To partner with History Colorado on a COVID-19 community project, contact María Islas-López, Museum of Memory Manager, at maria.islaslopez@state.co.us.

About the Colorado Media Project
The Colorado Media Project is a community-led initiative started in 2018, that advocates for innovation and collaboration in local newsrooms to better serve civic information needs. Colorado Media Project connects Colorado’s news organizations and individual journalists with funding, training, technology, and program opportunities that are focused on improving news capacity, eliminating news deserts, and countering disinformation for Colorado’s diverse communities. Colorado Media Project is fiscally sponsored by Rose Community Foundation. The newly formed Colorado News Collaborative – known as COLab – becomes the state’s widest-ranging journalism collaborative. Opening Fall 2020 in Denver, COLab staff and newsroom partners will help connect local, primary-source newsrooms across the state. Colorado Media Project is providing critical launch support for COLab.

About History Colorado
Inclusive, values-driven, and intentional, History Colorado has become a force for finding new ways to serve people in Colorado. In 2018 History Colorado provided programs to more than 18,000 students in their own schools, and assisted more than 40 schools with bus funds, to expand efforts that now serve more than 85,000 students annually. Its all-day Hands-On History program at El Pueblo History Museum responds to the four-day school week that is now administered by 61% of Colorado school districts.

History Colorado’s mission is to create a better future for Colorado by inspiring wonder in our past. We serve as the state’s memory, preserving and sharing the places, stories, and material culture of Colorado through educational programs, historic preservation grants, collecting, outreach to Colorado communities, the History Colorado Center and Stephen H. Hart Research Center in Denver, and nine other museums and historic attractions statewide. Visit HistoryColorado.org, or call 303-HISTORY, for more information.

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