Charlotte historians are encouraging you to journal about the coronavirus

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - Documenting your time during this pandemic could hold great value years from now. Historians believe so and that’s why they’re asking you to save any notes, pictures, or videos capturing what life is like for us right now.

Just like we save baby pictures, wedding invitations, or obituaries – you can take that same idea and start saving grocery receipts, the artwork your kids are doing while at home, anything that helps to showcase today.

Hector Vaca has a head start on saving memories. He’s taken his camera all through Charlotte to capture still moments of this pandemic through his eyes.

“I feel like this one is pretty powerful. A mother and son going out for groceries,” he said in reference to one of his photos.

On his Instagram, you’ll see two different realities. There are pictures of people trying to find some normalcy by enjoying time social distancing with friends or exercising outside. Then there are essential workers who stay on the job for us.

Tom Hanchett is a Charlotte Historian, he says, “This is something I hope that we will never go through again,”

Hanchett’s hope is that you understand what we can offer the future if we find ways to hold on to a piece of the present, whether it be for your future grandkids or historians.

“Writing down our experiences is a way of humanizing what we’re living through for the next set of eyes,” said Hanchett.

That means saving your thoughts by writing it down, even if it’s on social media. Just like Twitter user @DeeAye24. She wrote, “Virtual game night was a success.”

“Screenshot your tweets, your Facebook posts. It’s the way we are doing our diaries today. Instead of longhand and in a book, we’re doing it on social media,” said Hanchett.

Pictures of special milestones like a 30th birthday during quarantine works too, and even videos where you show your most vulnerable feelings.

“They’ve got me, scared man, I’ve never been scared of nothin’ in my whole life. They ain’t got no masks or nothing, they’re out of everything out here,” said an Instagram user.

Adria Focht the president and CEO of the Charlotte Museum of History says what we choose to save and remember has power. History has a way of shaping our healthcare in the future, just as long as things are documented.

“We can look back at our history and of the Polio epidemic and how that affected North Carolinians,” said Focht.

If there’s anything you don’t want to keep, the North Carolina Museum of History is collecting special items. A list of what you can give is found here.

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