COVID-19 Archives Project Reflection
Title
COVID-19 Archives Project Reflection
Description
This is my handwritten reflection on helping with this COVID-19 Archives Project as part of HIST 376: Public History. It reads:
I decided to participate in this project because I’m living through such an important historic event and felt like I should do something to try and document it. I’ve been so horribly unproductive over the past few weeks, so hopefully I actually could be useful with this project.
I think it's been a bit difficult getting contributions for this project because so many of us feel like we’re not doing anything meaningful in our day-to-day lives, especially now. I know that even the most mundane moments provide historical value, but I still found myself steering away from adding to much of my own material to the archive because it felt less important. My texts to friends asking them to contribute never amounted to any actual submissions; I think they also felt like they needed something “special” to add.
What I found really challenging about this project (other than technical difficulties with Omeka and people not following through with submitting consent forms) was how hard it is to convey emotion. No one’s going to give me their journal entry discussing how scared or depressed they may be right now. I certainly don’t want to be that vulnerable on this platform. Hopefully, whoever is using this archive in the future knows to look for what isn’t present in our project. I hope what we have curated is useful, and that as the pandemic (unfortunately) continues, the archive grows.
I decided to participate in this project because I’m living through such an important historic event and felt like I should do something to try and document it. I’ve been so horribly unproductive over the past few weeks, so hopefully I actually could be useful with this project.
I think it's been a bit difficult getting contributions for this project because so many of us feel like we’re not doing anything meaningful in our day-to-day lives, especially now. I know that even the most mundane moments provide historical value, but I still found myself steering away from adding to much of my own material to the archive because it felt less important. My texts to friends asking them to contribute never amounted to any actual submissions; I think they also felt like they needed something “special” to add.
What I found really challenging about this project (other than technical difficulties with Omeka and people not following through with submitting consent forms) was how hard it is to convey emotion. No one’s going to give me their journal entry discussing how scared or depressed they may be right now. I certainly don’t want to be that vulnerable on this platform. Hopefully, whoever is using this archive in the future knows to look for what isn’t present in our project. I hope what we have curated is useful, and that as the pandemic (unfortunately) continues, the archive grows.
Creator
Cordelia Jones '21
Date
05-07-2020
Language
English
Subject
Education
Contributor
Cordelia Jones
Participants
Cordelia Jones
Note
I handwrote this because I thought it felt more personal that way, and also because my classmates who submitted their reflections before me wrote theirs out.
Files
Citation
cjones5, “COVID-19 Archives Project Reflection,” Macalester: Place and Community in a COVID Landscape, accessed May 14, 2024, https://dwlibrary.macalester.edu/spring2020/items/show/104.