ORLANDO, Fla. — Over the past two years, the Orange County Regional History Center has been collecting donations from the public to document life in Central Florida amid the pandemic.

The center’s COVID-19 Collecting Project is collecting physical and digital records, including pictures, videos and journal entries. 

Assistant Curator Jeremy Hileman says the center has collected around 350 items so far — from pictures and videos to vaccination flyers and masks. One of the larger items received is the cooler used to transport the first COVID-19 tests to Orlando.

“I think it’s just really interesting to be able to use our collection items to tell compelling stories,” Hileman said. “I think that’s really the heart of what we do in a lot of ways.”

“People can have a real glimpse of what it was like at this time and utilize that material in a way that maybe without that, you wouldn’t be able to tell that full story,” he explained.

The center hopes to eventually collect larger items, including medical equipment, after those items are no longer needed.