BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — There is an effort aimed at capturing Western New York's memories of last year's deadly blizzard.
7 News' Pheben Kassahun got to take a look inside the new collection at the Buffalo History Museum nearly a year after the blizzard ripped across the Western New York region.
In January, the Buffalo History Museum launched the Blizzard of 2022 Collecting Initiative and since then, the community has donated more than 100 videos, photos, testimonials and objects, showing what Buffalo endured last December.
"What were some of the challenges we faced? How did we rise to the occasion? How did we overcome adversity? Blizzards create such an indelible mark in our memory," Buffalo History Museum communications director, Brian Hayden told Kassahun. "Something that the whole community can contribute to."
The blizzard was a shared experience for the residents of Western New York so the museum wanted people to share digital media, as well as historically significant items whether it be in person or on the museum's website at BuffaloHistory.org/Collecting.
Hayden explained, "Say you used a tool to pry open a car and save someone's life. There is some extraordinary story around an item that you might have, we are also interested in talking to you about that because we would love to consider that for our collection as well."
The archive reveals what was historic about this blizzard.
When looking through the photos, Hayden recalled how hard it was to believe we lived through it.
They knew it was something they had to create a record of.
Hayden added, "Photos of people standing on snow banks as tall as street signs. The intensity of that storm, the rate at which the snow fell, the degree to which it shut down the city has so rarely happened in the course of our whole city's history."
Along with the blizzard, there are other contemporary collective initiatives.
One is related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the newlywed project when LGBTQ marriages were made legal in New York State and the Tops mass shooting.
Hayden shared, "We have a Menu Collecting Initiative where we are trying to create a historical food record of Buffalo, so we are collecting menus of yesteryear and of today."
