Aberdeen City & Aberdeenshire Archives holds records of previous public health emergencies, from the plague in medieval times through to the Spanish Flu and Typhoid outbreaks in the 20th century.
We are looking for local people in Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire to keep diaries of their experiences in lockdown to allow future generations to understand what is was like to live through this pandemic.
The archives are asking people of all ages to consider keeping a diary in the coming weeks and months to be submitted to the archive when the crisis is over. You can use good old-fashioned pen and paper or digital formats to record the impact of the coronavirus on your household and community. Audio and photo-diaries are also welcome.
The gallery below shows a few examples of collections that allow us to understand what previous emergencies were like to live through: entries from log books from Ashley Road and Rosemount Schools recording details of the Spanish Flu pandemic in October 1918, and essays written by school pupils during the Second World War about what they are missing under war conditions.