You Must Remember This

Historian Alexandra Zapruder ’91 spent years researching young people’s diaries from the Holocaust for her award-winning 2002 book, Salvaged Pages.

During the historic pandemic lockdown, she wanted to give today’s youth the opportunity to document their thoughts, feelings and experiences, so in April 2020 she launched a project called Dispatches from Quarantine. Submissions, which include writings, artwork, photos and videos, can be viewed in a gallery on Zapruder’s website.

In an NPR interview, Zapruder cited the fleeting nature of adolescence as her inspiration for the project: “It goes so fast, and once it’s over it’s lost forever; we cannot recapture that point of view.”

DISPATCHES FROM QUARANTINE
Alexandra Zapruder ’91
alexandrazapruder.com/dispatches-home

This story appears as part of the Smithies Create column in the Summer 2021 issue of the Smith Alumnae Quarterly.

Photograph by Linda Fittante