“The statue of Louis Simpson, North Bend’s town founder, stands outside of City Hall in April 2020 wearing a mask symbolizing the COVID-19 event on the South Coast. The Coos History Museum encourages South Coast citizens to document stories and images, like this one, in order to gather a historical record of the pandemic” (photo by Steven Greif).
The Covid-19 Pandemic
The Coronavirus pandemic is affecting everyone across the world and has created a completely uncharted experience. History is being made as we speak. While we may be experiencing emotions such as sorrow, frustration, and fear, there are still some moments of unexpected joy, laughter, and hope. The Coos History Museum wants to take this time to reach out and provide a platform where we can all can share, collect, and document the experiences of our community.
Our Community
While the entire world is experiencing this pandemic, Coos County has its own story and is undergoing its own heartache and hopefulness, sadness and strength. We are all creating our own living history every day whether it be through texts, phone calls, social media posts, zoom chats with family, creative projects to entertain the kids, or supporting family, friends, and neighbors in whatever ways we can. The Coos History Museum wants not only to collect this information as a record of our county’s history, but also to provide an outlet for our community members to share their stories and experiences through these tough times and uncertain circumstances.
Let’s Talk About It
Please share anything that you feel represents this time in our history. Whether personal or communal, happy or sad, please help us create a space for everyone to come together and document this time in our lives. When submitting your content please provide a short description or explanation and let us know names, dates, times, and other pertinent information when applicable. Feel free to include photos, videos, audio, writing, art, music, etc. by:
- Posting on our Facebook page Coos County: Our Covid-19 Story
- Emailing your content to covid-19experience@cooshistory.org with Covid-19 in the subject line
- Mailing your content to Attn: Coos County: Our Covid-19 Story, Coos History Museum, 1210 N Front St, Coos Bay OR, 97420
- Adding a comment below
*When you submit your content to us you will be agreeing to unconditionally donate your text, images, videos, audio, and all other content to the Coos History Museum.
Check out these articles by Steven Greif featured in The World Newspaper that not only capture our experiences now, but other trying times in South Coast history:
I’m sending some photos of Face Rock in Bandon. The aspect ration is different from what’s on the page, but I created it with that aspect ratio because I put it on coffee mugs.
Great idea for this page, Ariel. I’m sending in two photos. One shows the statue of Louis Simpson, North Bend’s town founder, wearing a mask. on April 15, 2020. During the COVID-19 crisis, the CDC asked citizens to help prevent the spread of the disease by wearing facemasks when doing essential chores, like grocery shopping, in public spaces. It was nice to see Louie doing his part. The second photo shows reserved parking spots in front of the EZ Thai restaurant, on Broadway in Coos Bay, in April. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Governor of Oregon ordered all restaurants to close, except for take-out orders. Many local citizens regularly purchased take-out so that our favorite local restaurants could survive the shutdown.