Historic Journal

History is happening now, and with everything you do, you are a part of it.

Every festival, concert, rodeo, and community events of any kind that you attend, you have a participating role in current history. Everything you write, draw, paint, and sculpt, makes you a representation of society and its values right now. Every job you have or will have, volunteer work you do, and assistance you give; will all be a part of history.

Everything you create, your professional life, and your hobbies are impactful on the overall picture of history. All of these factors are a product of the era you are present in; someday, whether it's ten years or one hundred years from now, someone will find you and your daily life vastly fascinating. Whether it's future family members or historians, people will want to know what you did today, how you felt, and what you thought.

Help record history by journaling; write down the store you went to today and the experience you had there.

What did you buy? How much did it cost? What will you make with it? If you call a loved one, write about it! What brand and model phone did you call them on? What relation are they to you? What is something you talked about? If you worked today write about that. Where do you work? What do you do at work? Write about the festivals, concerts, community events, volunteer work, holidays, and your general life experiences. These things may seem very trivial to you right now, but in a century researchers will be incredibly appreciative of the time you took to do this.

Take pictures to document your life experiences (bonus points if you add them to your journal).

Whether you feel the experience you are having is well documented or not, take pictures. You have a unique perspective and may accidentally commemorate a surprising moment no one else caught. I know we sound like teachers from elementary school, but always sign and date everything you create. Whether it's art, something you wrote, or a picture you took. Documenting who was responsible for it and when it was created is incredibly important, and archivists will thank you. Even if you think it's unimportant now, there’s a chance it could be very significant in the future.

You have no idea how much the museum community wishes we had more documented content, or how incredibly excited we get when we find it. Museums across the globe receive many requests for historic journals about the average Joe or Jane; from specific periods in history because people are fascinated by how they lived during that time. Some day people will have the same fascination with this point in history.

Wars, Elections, Coronations, Inaugurations, natural disasters, and major national and international events are historically significant, but so is your lived experience. Historians and possibly even your descendants will want to know how these events did or did not affect you and your daily life. You are a part of history right now, you should do what you can to record it. 

---by Kelia McCuddy