The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) has launched a new project that is sure to be of interest to family historians who'd love to leave a genealogical gift to their descendents.
Called Stay Home Memories (after the Stay Home Directive of 23 March that imposed social restrictions on the population of Northern Ireland), the project aims to gather information about how the Covid-19 pandemic effected everything from work and education to shopping and family and social life.
There are three ways to participate in the Stay Home Memories project:
Stay Home Census : A 'census' form has been created with a number of questions (none of them compulsory). You can note who you shared lockdown with, how the restrictions impacted your work, education or living arrangements, and so on.The form can be filled in online and returned by email. All returned census will be archived in the new Stay Home Census archive at PRONI (reference D4771), which will be closed to the public to protect personal information relating to living individuals. Any data used publicly will be anonymised.
Stay Home Diaries: Have you been keeping a diary during the coronavirus outbreak? If so, would you consider depositing it with PRONI? They can accept both paper and digital diaries, as gifts or loans and you can decide when the public gets access to it.
Stay Home Web Archive: PRONI already archives Government and local authority websites but so much key information is held on private and community based websites. You can help by nominating websites containing information on community activity and responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.
For more information, click the Stay Home Memories logo above.