Buzz
While Baby Boomers scored affordable housing and Millennials embraced a shade of pink, Generation X, caught in the middle, often feels like it was left out of the spotlight.
Gen X earned its nickname, the “Forgotten Generation,” due to its quiet existence between the louder headlines of neighboring age ranges. But the Illinois State Museum is working on an exhibit that will push Gen X front and center, at least until avocado toast takes over the headlines again.
As USA TODAY reports, the exhibit, titled “Growing Up X,” will open this October at the museum’s main branch in Springfield, Illinois. And if you’re a Gen Xer, born between 1965 and 1980, you can even contribute to the exhibit yourself.
The Illinois State Museum has launched a survey inviting Gen Xers to share childhood items they’d be willing to lend (or donate) for the upcoming exhibit. From your beloved Trapper Keeper to a well-worn copy of Judy Blume’s Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, and nearly everything in between—landline phones, vintage T-shirts, Star Wars action figures, classic Nintendo consoles, VHS tapes, and more.
If you don’t have any items to lend, don’t worry—you can still contribute by sharing your memories. “We want to explore what it was like growing up in the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s,” said Illinois State Museum history curator Erika Holst to USA TODAY. “How did growing up with new technology, often unsupervised, during the Cold War, Reaganomics, the Just Say No campaign, and the AIDS crisis shape this generation, who are now entering middle age?”
The survey asks about your favorite childhood activities, books, TV shows, and slang, as well as introspective questions about how your parenting compares to that of your parents, societal views on personal identity, and much more.
You can complete the survey here.
