Students as historians

Came across this interesting piece directed at students and how they can contribute to the historical record by documenting their lives during the COVID-19 pandemic. Check it out...

While finishing up hectic finals schedules and trying to sort out summer plans, it can be tempting to only focus  on when this will be over –– when students can return to campus, see their friends again and resume “normal” activities. Given how all-consuming the news surrounding the pandemic has become, it’s no surprise that the focus remains how to get through it. Everyone wants this to be over soon. But, it is equally important to document the small ways the virus has impacted everyday life — to recognize and record its effects. By writing, journaling and creating, students can play a role in the collection of history... [continue reading in the Daily Trojan].

Students should make a record of their life during the coronavirus pandemic - Daily Trojan

What historians will see

There was a particularly good feature in the New York Times on how universities and institutions are encouraging people to document life during this pandemic. A few highlights...

StoryCorps, the story-sharing nonprofit, moved its platform online for the first time... 

Students at Neumann University in Pennsylvania set up a series called the Coronavirus Diaries on the school’s radio station, WNUW-FM... 

“A century ago, people told their stories in written journals,... Now, we are capturing people’s thoughts and experiences through social media posts, email, audio and photographs.”... [continue reading in the New York Times].

What Historians Will See When They Look Back on the Covid-19 Pandemic of 2020 - New York Times

Journal of the plague

Discovered an incredible site in my search for interesting ways in which museums are documenting life during a pandemic. It's been going for awhile, so I am glad I found out about it. What I like about it are how accessible it is (anyone can contribute) and how collaborative it is (I've copied the list of the curators below).

A Journal of the Plague Year: An Archive of COVID19

Join us in documenting our uncertain moment. We are acting not just as historians, but as chroniclers, recorders, memoirists, as image collectors. We invite you to share your experience and impressions of how CoVid19 has affected our lives, from the mundane to the extraordinary, including the ways things haven't changed at all. Share your story in text, images, video, tweets, texts, Facebook posts, Instagram or Snapchat memes, and screenshots of the news and emails--anything that speaks to paradoxes of the moment. Imagine, as we are, what future historian might need to write about and understand this historical moment... [continue reading the site's About page].

Curators

The site title was inspired
by Daniel Defoe's novel of
that name. First published in
March 1722 the novel,
A Journal of the Plague Year,
tells story of one man's experiences
 of the year 1665, in which the
bubonic plague shook London.

• Mark Tebeau, Public History, ASU
• Catherine O'Donnell, Arizona State University (ASU)
• Mills Kelly, George Mason University
• Andrew May, Melbourne History Workshop, University of Melbourne, Australia
• Mitchell Harrop, Melbourne History Workshop, University of Melbourne, Australia
• Victoria Cain, History, Northeastern University
• Jason Kelly, IUPUI
• Rebecca Wingo, University of Cincinnati
• Casey Ruble, Fordham University
• Micki McGee, Fordham University
• Juilee Decker, Rochester Institute of Technology
• Connie Zeanah Atkinson, Midlo Center, University of New Orleans
• Mary Niall Mitchell, Midlo Center, University of New Orleans
• Kathryn O'Dwyer, University of New Orleans
• Jessica Dauterive, RRCHNM, George Mason
• Amy Tyson, Depaul University
• Sharon Musher, Stockton University
• Andrew Schocket Bowling Green State University
• Maureen Barry, Bowling Green State University
• Susannah Ottoway, Carleton College
• Cathy Gudis, UC-Riverside & LA Skid Row Archive
• Nicki Tarulevicz, Hobart University
• Ariel Beaujot, University of Wisconsin--LaCrosse
• Brendan Lindsay, California State University--Sacremento
• Cheryl Jimenez Frei, University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire
• Dave Ghamandi, University of Virginia
• Michelle Hamilton, University of Western Ontario
• Denise Bates, Arizona State University
• Terry Shoemaker, Arizona State University
• Susan Barrett, Arizona State University
• Katy Lasdow, Suffolk University
• Katy Kole de Peralta, Arizona State University
• Katie Clary, Coastal Carolina University
• Matt Casey, Arizona State University
• Michael Della Iacono, Suffolk University
• Nancy Berlage, Texas State University San Marcos
• Jaime Ding, Kennedy Library, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
• Brian Cwiek, Bates College
• Tom Beazley, ASU
• Erin Craft, ASU
• Christopher Bradley, ASU
• Marc Vance, ASU
• Lawson Miller, ASU
• Wendy Trakes, ASU
• Jordan Meyerl, UMASS Boston
• Ella Irmiter, Northeastern University
• Hanna Leatherman, Brown University
• Anjelica Oswald, Northeastern University
• Aaron Peterka, Northeastern University
• Abby Goldstein, Fordham University
• Alfie Paul, UMASS Boston
• Allinston Saulsberry, ASU
• Carmen Coury, Southern Connecticut State University
• Carolyn Goldstein, UMASS Boston
• Chris Parsons, Northeastern University
• David Duncan, UC-Santa Cruz
• Deborah Krieger, Brown University
• Doug Clouse, Fordham University
• Ellen Holt Werle, Macalester College
• Erin Hall, University of Wisconsin- Eau Claire
• Gregory Smoak, University of Utah
• Heather Monro Prescott, Central Connecticut State University
• Heather Perez, Stockton University
• Isabel Allen, ASU
• Jane Collins, UCLA
• Jennifer Long Morehart, Georgia State University
• Joey Dorion, ASU
• Julia Howington, Suffolk University
• Julie Paulesc, ASU
• Kate Levitt, Stony Brook University
• Ken Albers, George Mason University
• Kyle Minor, UIPUI
• Liza Black, Indiana University
• Marie-Louise Paulesc, ASU
• Molly Mitchell, University of New Orleans
• Nick Johnson, University of Munster
• Nicolette Paglioni, Georgia State University
• Oliver Ayers, New College of the Humanities
• Patricia Belen, Fordham University
• Rachel Reinhard, University of California Berkeley
• Rebecca Walker, Rochester Institute of Technology
• Rosanna Dent, New Jersey Institute of Technology
• Shane Carter, University of California Berkeley
• Tatiana Baxter, Vanderbilt University
• Taylor Griffith, Vanderbilt University
• Zoe Kahn, University of California Berkeley
• Tory L. Schendel Cox, Evansville Museum of Arts, History & Science
• Thomas R. Lonnberg, Evansville Museum of Arts, History & Science

A Journal of the Plague Year: An Archive of COVID19 - main website

Museums engage rapid response teams

A few more museum initiatives on documenting life during a pandemic:

London's Victoria and Albert Museum has
put its Rapid Response Collecting team to work

Museums Scramble to Document the Pandemic, Even as It Unfolds - New York Times

Around the world, the coronavirus outbreak has sent legions of emergency medical and health care workers into overdrive. But it has also meant work for a handful of curators and museum researchers in Europe, charged with tracking the events and implications of the crisis, even as it happens. Most of them do not know exactly how or when their findings will be used, but they are confident that future generations of museum workers — and visitors — will want the information... [continue reading the New York Times article].

The International Center of Photography
is collecting on Instagram (#ICPConcerned)

Museums Are Urgently Collecting Homemade Masks and Other Ephemera From the Coronavirus Pandemic to Document History as It Unfolds - ArtNet

Curators call the practice "urgent response collecting"... As many of our minds are focused on how to fight the spread of disease, museums are thinking about how to best document this unique period in history and to preserve elements of the crisis as it unfolds... As a starting point for the current crisis, the Museum of the City of New York and the International Center of Photography are both utilizing Instagram (under the respective hashtags #CovidStoriesNYC and #ICPConcerned)... [continue reading on ArtNet for more initiatives].

COVID Diary 2

I've been poking at another entry in my COVID-19 Diary without making much progress, but it's not for a lack of focus. It's just that a couple other related activities have been taking my time.

One is the blogposts I have been writing on how museums are documenting life during a pandemic. Theses were interesting initially, but I don't think it will be long until I just say "all museums are doing something".

The other, and most importantly, is the is the COVID-19 Diary Study that I am participating in (and wrote about it here). It's very interesting, but is taking me 20-30 minutes each evening (I will get an output of my responses after 4 weeks, so I might post that, or part of it, at that time).

I feel that I am benefiting from the structure these activities have provided me, especially the daily diary study. It has made me aware of my state of mind, how much I am (or am not) listening to news, my health, and so on. For at least part of my day, I am absolutely present.

I have been listening to music while I do these, and have periodically paused to record what I have been grooving to.

Background music: Ain't Too Proud to Beg (Rolling Stones), Maggie May (Rod Stewart), Innagadadavida (Iron Butterfly), Straight On (Heart), Hush (Deep Purple), Carry On Wayward Son (Kansas), Sultans of Swing (Dire Straits), Won't Get Fooled Again (The Who), Touch Me (The Doors), Smoke on the Water (Deep Purple), Radar Love (Golden Earring)

Canadian Museum of Human Rights: Acts of Kindness

The Canadian Museum of Human Rights is asking,
"What acts of kindness have lifted your spirits
during the Covid-19 pandemic?” 

The UK based Museums Association has created guidelines for how museums should go about collecting pandemic-related content, as well as a toolkit.

In How are museums collecting during coronovirus shutdown? the association profiles 10 museums and their COVID-19 collection efforts, nine in the United Kingdom, and one in Canada(!).

Canadian Museum of Human Rights, Winnipeg 

The Canadian Museum of Human Rights is asking people to create and share videos responding to the question: “What acts of kindness have lifted your spirits during the Covid-19 pandemic?” Selected videos will then appear on the museum’s website (there are 16 videos so far).

To read what the nine UK museums are doing, continue reading on the association's website.

Documenting life during a pandemic

Today I listened to TWO interesting CBC Radio shows about pandemic diaries: who's keeping them, and why, and how they have value beyond the personal. It turns out there are a few initiatives to encourage recording this period for their historical value. A few highlights from each:

'We want it all': Keeping a COVID-19 diary? It could help future historians — and your mental health - The Current

Dr. Karen Blair, an assistant professor of psychology at St. Francis Xavier University... is part of a team that's collecting diary entries from those in the thick of isolation. They hope to shed light on how the pandemic is affecting mental health. Each day, participants check in with a short survey. Some even share details about their experiences that day."

It's so interesting that I have joined the COVID-19 Diary Study project.

The Current story resources
Keeping a COVID-19 diary? It could help future historians - podcast episode and transcript
COVID-19 Diary Study - join Dr. Karen Blair's project

National Museum of Denmark's
Christian Sune Pedersen is leading the journal project

Danes are sending their quarantine journals to the national museum - Day 6

"Lots of people are turning to social media to chronicle the monotony of quarantine, peppered with the brief excitement of sourdough starters and family kitchen parties. But folks in Denmark are taking it a step further, by sending pages of their lockdown journals to the national museum to preserve them for posterity. Conveniently, Denmark already has a blueprint for the journal experiment..."

They've done it before, in 1992 (when they received 51,000 entries) and again in 2017. An interesting listen.

Day 6 story resources
Danes are sending their quarantine journals to the national museum - podcast episode and transcript
National Museum of Denmark - official website (19 museums/sites)