SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Tired of Baby Boomers’ stories of the “good ol’ days,” of Millennials’ tiny attention spans or the fatuous complaints of Zoomers?
You must be part of the “forgotten” Generation X, and the Illinois State Museum wants to hear from you.
The museum’s Springfield facility will open an exhibition entitled “Growing Up X” in October, dedicated to those born generally from 1965 to 1980, described by the museum as “the last generation to have had an analog childhood.”
“We think it’s time Gen X got some love,” said Illinois State Museum Curator of History Erika Holst.
Holst is inviting Xers to complete an online survey about their experiences growing up and to loan the exhibition items from that era, from portable cassette players to inline skates.
“We want to dig into the experience of being a child in the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s,” Holst said. “How did growing up adapting to new technology, often unsupervised, in the shadow of the Cold War, Reaganomics, Just Say No and the AIDS crisis shape this generation of people who are now coming into their own in middle age?”
