#Chances4Children: Young people to create lockdown ‘time capsule’ stored by British Library
Fiona Simpson
Thursday, July 9, 2020
Children are set to contribute to a digital time capsule to help future generations learn about life in lockdown.
Online scrapbook app Storychest’s Children of Lockdown project will be stored on the British Library’s digital archive to teach others about the impact of the pandemic on children.
Children aged three to 17 are being asked to submit pictures, poems and stories reflecting on their time in lockdown.
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Children’s authors Nicola J Rowley, Janey Jones and Rhys Brisenden will also pick winners for the most creative response in three age categories.
Charlotte McMillan, founder of Storychest, started the initiative as a family project with her three sons.
She said: “They have witnessed a fundamental moment in history, when everything that was predictable about our lives was suspended - the ability to come and go as we please, to see friends and family, to go to school.
“I thought it was important for them to express their thoughts and reflections about lockdown, almost as a way of putting it into perspective - the negatives but also the positives - and to see what we can take on board for the future. My friends also got involved and I thought how great would this be if we could extend the idea to all children across the UK, for their reflections to be captured in one place.
“I’d heard about the British Library Web Archive, so I approached them with my idea of creating a digital time capsule”
Ian Cooke, lead curator for the British Library Web Archives, said: “The British LIbrary will be including Children of Lockdown in its collection on Covid-19, as part of the UK Web Archive.
“This collection covers medical, healthcare, policy and social impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. Children of Lockdown will be an important part of this collection, showing first-hand accounts of how lockdown impacted a generation, through a range of creative and written responses.”
