Collecting Community Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic

A “Community Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic collection”

The Archives​ closed in March and will remain closed until the County’s Emergency Restrictions are lifted.  Nevertheless, we are committed to building a collection that documents the lives and activities of County of Simcoe residents, businesses, industries, and organizations as they adapted, and continue to adapt, to the pandemic.  

We know that many of you are creating an​d collecting memories and information about the pandemic.  Since we are currently unable to accept records into our holdings, we are asking for your help.  Will you consider collecting materials for yourself, your families, or your employees, and then, after “normal operations resume,” donating them to be preserved for posterity at the Archives?  This is your chance to be an amateur archivist! 

Collections Mandate 

Archivists try to build their holdings by acquiring collections of records that were created or received by an individual, family, business, industry, or organization.  Single items, while often interesting, lose their contextual value when they are removed from the larger grouping of materials. 

Simcoe​ County Archives collections criteria: 

• Do the records document, in some way, the history, geography, geology, culture or socio-economic structure of Simcoe County?  
• Were the records generated in Simcoe County?  
• If neither of the above, do the records document the life or activities of a past or present resident of Simcoe County?  
• Are the records unique, or do multiple copies exist?  
• Do the records enrich the Archives’ collection?  ​

This means that we would decline such items as “Stay the Blazes Home” memorabilia from Nova Scotia, which will likely be collected by Archives located in Nova Scotia​.  Similarly, the Archives expects to acquire copies of records produced and distributed by local municipalities and newspapers from the offices themselves, rather than through private sources.