PROPOSAL TYPE
Traditional Panel
SEEKING
- Seeking Additional Presenters
RELATED TOPICS
- Consulting
- Government Historians
- Oral History
RELATED TOPICS
I will present a paper on my consulting work in 2021-22 with a military retirement home in Washington, DC. The home wanted to capture its immediate history of fighting (their words) COVID-19. I conducted more than 20 oral history interviews with staff members, including nurses; executive leaders of the home; residents; and a few outside people instrumental in assisting the home during the pandemic. The retirement home felt the urgency to capture this history before key stakeholders might pass from age-related illnesses and before staff might move on to other jobs. I will reflect on the process of doing this history, in which I did not visit the home until well into the project, and the short paper I wrote.
Description
My hope for this panel is to have people reflect on any historical work they have done to capture the history of the COVID-19 emergency and to share any lessons learned or insights they might have. I am looking for other panelists (2-3 people), plus if someone would like to be the moderator and/or commentator. I welcome international historians to participate.
If you have a direct offer of assistance, sensitive criticism, or wish to pass along someone’s contact information confidentially, please get in contact directly: Joan Zenzen, [email protected]
ALL FEEDBACK AND OFFERS OF ASSISTANCE SHOULD BE SUBMITTED BY JULY 7, 2023. If you have general ideas or feedback to share, please feel free to use the comments feature below.
The Utah Division of State History developed the K-12 COVID-19 Project to capture K-12 student experiences in the early months of the pandemic. We created digital questionnaires for students fill out to become part of a digital collection https://collections.lib.utah.edu/search?facet_setname_s=dha_uk12cmp
I can discuss the process of this work and share student examples and the public feedback we received.
The Utah Historical Society (formerly Utah Division of State History) developed the K-12 COVID-19 Project to capture K-12 student experiences in the early months of the pandemic. We created digital questionnaires for students fill out to become part of a digital collection. https://collections.lib.utah.edu/search?facet_setname_s=dha_uk12cmp
I can discuss the process of the work and share student examples and the public feedback we received.
Hi Lisa, That would be a great topic to add to this panel. If you want to work with me on the panel, let me know. [email protected] Thank you!
I think a lot of us are still grappling with the challenge of documenting COVID, so this would be a welcome session. It sounds like Joan and Lisa both were collecting in the midst of the worst of the pandemic, Lisa very early on and Joan during subsequent waves of active spread. It would be interesting to add a third perspective from someone who is starting the work now that the pandemic has calmed. This could lead to an interesting discussion about how the documentation experience and results differs depending on at what point in a crisis a project like this is undertaken. I would also be interested to hear how each of you prepared for and dealt with the issue of trauma amongst your subjects.
Thanks for your comments, Christine. I guess you are not working on such a covid-related topic now?
Christine, if you are grappling with documenting covid, send me an email at [email protected] if you are interested in presenting. Based upon your excellent comment above, I think I will switch the session proposal to a structured conversation about the challenges of documenting covid–what Lisa and I have done and what others are working on now. Thank you for your insight!
Hi Joan, we’re just wrapping up Covid Work Stories here at Carleton… a joint project with Ingenium (Science and Technology) capturing experiences of seven front line workers in Ottawa through oral history, objects, etc. All to be featured on a website. I’d love to join the panel and present on it….