RAPID RESPONSE COLLECTING: COVID-19

Collections Corner | Martin Bierens

---

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the year 2020 has led to an uptick of rapid response collecting, particularly related to the pandemic.

Rapid response collecting is a fairly recent addition to museum collections management mandates with the goal being to collect the meaningful present. This has largely come from a shifting public and internal demand of what museums should provide their visitors. From the origin of museums in the 1800s, they have been a place where visitors can expect to encounter objects from the past, but now museums are placing a much greater emphasis on the present. Museums can be places where the public gathers to interact with contemporary history that directly impacts their lives.

A notable moment where rapid response collecting hit the mainstream and began to be recognized outside of the professional museum community was in 2017 after the Women’s March on Washington protesting the inauguration of Donald Trump. In response to the march, many museums collected the now-iconic pink pussyhats worn by protestors.

Protestors wearing pussyhats at the Women's March on Washington. (Source)

In 2020, rapid response collecting is how many museums have answered to the Covid-19 pandemic. After the initial global shut-down and the frantic development of online educational material, museums have been adding pandemic related objects to their collection.

A museum that took on a leading role in rapid response collecting in 2017 was the V&A, and this pattern continues today as they collect during the pandemic. Some of the objects that the V&A and other museums have collected include the obvious pandemic essentials, such as homemade facemasks, social distancing signs, ventilators, and heartwarming signs made by children. Other materials collected are oral histories from medical and essential workers, video footage of hospitals including a video created by a doctoral resident of Mount Sinai Queens —one of the worst-hit hospitals in New York City, and a cowbell that was rung every time a Covid patient was discharged from the Samaritan’s Purse Hospital, also in New York City.

Cowbell rung at Samaritan's Purse Hospital, now part of the New-York Historical Society's Collection. (Source)

Though there has been a very quick reaction by many museums to begin rapid response collecting, there are some museums that are taking measured steps to ensure that they are not reacting too quickly. Dean Oliver, the director of research at the Canadian Museum of History expressed that now, more than ever, there is a need to act deliberately, respectfully, and sensitively. The Royal B.C. Museum’s website has put a call out on its website for objects related to the pandemic, but they are holding off on formally accessioning any material at this time. This is a general cautiousness to ensure that they are acting appropriately and ethically, rather than making rash decisions.

Museums currently find themselves in something of a catch-22. If a museum chooses that they must undertake rapid response collecting at this time, they will be able to acquire a large amount of valuable material, but there is a possibility that the museum could take advantage of a bad situation, and may be treating donors unethically, be it unwittingly or not. However, if a museum decides to wait, ensuring that they are respectful and deliberate, there is the possibility that much of the material history of the pandemic may be lost forever. Joanne Orr of the Royal B.C. Museum expresses this concern, 

“Often in an emergency situation, things are thrown away, so a lot of things will be discarded at the end of this and we want to make sure we can capture examples of that.” 

Pandemic essentials, such as facemasks, are quickly being added to museum collections. (Source).

Museums are now faced with the difficult choice of collecting material but perhaps making best-practice mistakes, whereas on the other hand, if they decide to be cautious, there is a chance that they will never be able to collect material because it will already be gone. Museums are tasked with the difficult demand of practicing rapid response collecting, but balancing it with due diligence and ethical collecting practices.

Thank you to Chloé Houde for her assistance with this article.