New Memories Project ‘captures history’, Hastings County Historical Society president says

The Memories Project is an opportunity for Hastings County residents to share their past or current life experiences.

By Laural Samson

BELLEVILLE – A new project for Hastings County residents aims to ‘capture their stories and preserve it’, the president of the Historical Society Richard Hughes says.

The Memories Project is an opportunity for people in Hastings County to write a one-page account of a notable or everyday experience. Hughes says that for young people, this could be about the experience of going to school during COVID-19. And for older people, this could be about things they’ve experienced that no longer exist, like a one-room schoolhouse.

“We are appealing to the whole community of people of every age,” Hughes said, adding that there is a place for everyone’s experience in the Memories Project.

“It captures history because every day we are making new history.”

Hughes also said that they have reached out to retirement homes in the area to encourage residents to write down their experiences.

“We hope that people there, under the stay-at-home order, will get busy and write down their thoughts and memories.”

As well as seniors, Hughes said that he is hoping the younger generation participates as well.

“And equally students! I know that students don’t have a lot of spare time, but I’m sure that life for students right now is rather strange,” Hughes said, adding that the new project is about exploring these times while having something to look back on.

“There are stories there that need to be written up- how I survived at Loyalist during COVID.”

Some of these stories will end up in the Hastings County Historical Society newsletter, Hughes said, while the rest will be safely stored away.

“The point is to gather these very safely into the community archives, where we’ve got all the records going back 200 years, and they will be safely kept there for the long term and be available for research.”

Hughes said that this project was “designed to be a COVID-friendly activity” and will be an important account of how people are living through the current pandemic.

“In future years, people will be reading about this as a historical event. So we have to capture the daily life of both now and in the distant past.”