Collecting and Exhibiting COVID-19 Related Objects at the Suita City Museum in Osaka, Japan

Abstract

The Suita City Museum is collecting objects related to COVID-19. These objects will be valuable historical resources for future generations to learn about the current pandemic. The museum also held a small exhibition on COVID-19. By exhibiting some of the collected objects, the museum hoped to link them to the next collection and to help visitors to think about the future of Japan and the way people should live, what the pandemic has given to Japanese society and local communities, and what it means for us. In an era in which the social role of museums is changing from object-centered to people's narrative-centered, it is important to collect and archive the testimonies of citizens' experiences of COVID-19 along with objects.