January 13, 2022 – The Illinois State Museum is looking to give Gen X some overdue love. The “Forgotten Generation” is sandwiched between Baby Boomers and Millenials, who outnumber them and tend to overshadow them as well. The Illinois State Museum is looking to create an exhibition that showcases what it was like to grow up as part of Generation X.
“..The experience of being a Generation X child was one of…if not quite being forgotten, definitely of being left unsupervised a lot of the time. A lot of us had working parents and were latchkey kids. For those of us who had parents at home, they still didn’t pay a ton of attention to us. A defining memory of this generation is playing outside until the streetlights came on.” said Illinois State Museum Curator of History Erika Holst.
When asked what prompted this exhibition, Holst said, “We want to give some attention to a generation that is often overlooked, culturally. We want to give Gen X’ers a chance to remember the toys, technologies, and touchstones from their childhood and also reflect on the bigger picture of the era in which we were raised and how it shaped the people we are today. And then we want Gen X-ers to bring their families and show them what life was like for them when they were young.”
If you would like to shine some light on what being a Gen X’er was/is like, the Museum is looking for loan items for the exhibit such as a Walkman, VCR, or video game systems like the Atari 2600. If you don’t have items to donate, you could take some time to complete this survey.
The exhibit will open at the end of October this year.
