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Public history profess A flag flies in Waukesha proclaiming to passers-by that “We will get through this.” Young girls a house apart play dolls by yelling out their second-story windows to each other. A hospital food service worker soaks her gloves in hand sanitizer to make temporary disinfecting wipes. Chris Cantwell is capturing it all. “Put up in front of Ascension Columbia St. Mary’s on N Lake Dr. in support of the essential workers that risk their lives everyday helping fight COVID-19.” Submitted by Mollie Thompson.
Cantwell, an assistant professor of history at UWM, is the creator of the COVID-19 MKE archive, an online repository that documents, in real time, how Milwaukee is experiencing the coronavirus pandemic. He’s compiled submissions from residents all around the metro Milwaukee area that give glimpses into a life in quarantine. There are over 140 posts and counting. A community and student collaboration The COVID-19 MKE archive was born partly from historians’ best practices and partly from necessity. “This is actually established practice within the historical profession,” Cantwell said. “Any time something particularly dramatic happens or there’s an anniversary that comes up, museums will open their doors and say, give us material that will help us remember this moment 50, 60, 100 years from now.”
“My mom is 62 and immunocompromised. She’s helping make masks for local hospitals so I ran and picked up some fabric for her...it was on the doorknob...would love for her to come in.” Submitted by Robina.
For instance, he noted, historians collected images of the roadside memorials that sprang up after the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013. George Mason University launched a digital archive in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks and received materials from around the world. Likewise, as news spread of increasingly dire situations across the United States, Cantwell decided to document Milwaukee’s own response to the pandemic. He worked with the UWM Libraries – including Ann Hanlon, the library’s director of digital initiatives, and Jie Chen, a digital collections application specialist who handles the site’s server space – to launch the website and begin collecting submissions in the form of blog posts, videos, photographs, audio clips, and social media posts.
“Local Metro Market has shelves depleted from the Coronavirus scare.” Submitted by Tanya Lovendahl.
4 • IN FOCUS • April, 2020
