Saratoga Museum creating time capsule of 2020
Saratoga Museum creating time capsule of 2020
By Carrie Haderlie
Rawlins Times
Via Wyoming News Exchange
RAWLINS — The Saratoga Museum wants to remember 2020.
“We’re going to keep a time capsule of 2020, and it will be kept upstairs, inside the building, visible behind plexiglass.” Museum Director Kimberly Givens said. “It is going to be sealed for 50 years, so your kindergartners today will be 56 when it is opened. We’re collecting anything COVID-related. What happened to your world? What happened to your family, and how did COVID affect you?”
It is important to preserve — in first person documentation — today’s experiences for tomorrow, Givens said. This ensures future generations will have access to local primary source material documenting life in the Upper North Platte River Valley during the global coronavirus pandemic.
“If it would not have been for notes and journals that the Mormon people kept as they crossed over the Oregon Trail, we would know nothing,” Givens said. “We want people in the future to know what this period of time did to us. It made people go under, it made businesses stop and made families not be able to celebrate together. We want people to know that.”
The time capsule will be opened in the year 2070, and submissions can be submitted to the museum in person or emailed to: saratogamuseum@gmail. com
“If this is going to go on, we also want to remember where it started,” Givens said.
Right now, the Museum has written submissions and objects like toilet paper, hand sanitizer and masks in its 2020 collection. School classes are encouraged to participate, as well as families and individuals.
The time capsule is just one of several initiatives happening at the local museum this year.
The museum also recently moved its large metal sign, which had been nestled in the trees to the west of the museum, to a south-facing entrance for greater curb appeal. The pavilion to the east of the museum was also updated with inclement weather curtains, which make the space accessible year-round. The pavilion is open to weddings, reunions and celebrations of life.
In November, Carbon County voters approved the creation of the Saratoga-Ryan Park Museum District, with the general purpose of providing a stable source of funding for the operation, maintenance and possible expansion of the Saratoga Historical and Cultural Association and its properties. Carbon County Treasurer Patty Bentsen said the mill levy will not go into effect until FY 2020-21 and that boundaries will be set in the Carbon County Assessor’s Office.
“We’re so thankful for the tremendous support shown by the voters of the district, and will keep everyone apprised as we move forward,” Connie Patterson, vice president of the museum board, said.