Chronicling COVID-19 at Ouachita
Ouachita is launching a campus-wide project to encourage members of the university community to document their personal experiences during the coronavirus outbreak and contribute them to the University Archives. While we are collecting official records related to Ouachita’s response to the pandemic, we also want to ensure that personal experiences and reactions to this challenging and historic situation are included in the permanent archives. All members of the campus community are invited and encouraged to participate.
How to participate
The method of recording your pandemic experiences is up to you. Some suggestions include writings if you kept a journal, or reminiscences, recording voice memos, saving social media posts, photos and/or videos you may have made or taken, or creating multimedia works of digital storytelling.
Send in your stories about the shift to remote learning, returning home for the spring 2020 semester, delayed spring commencement, how you kept in touch with your family and friends during periods of self-quarantine and social distancing, and so on.
Submission process
Please use this form to submit your items. You will be able to sign an agreement allowing the University Archives to preserve your submission, and you will receive important information about the copyright and use of your content. You will have the option to remain anonymous if you choose.
Submissions will not be available to the public immediately. After they are processed by the University Archives staff, they will be available on Scholarly Commons @ Ouachita.
If you interview other people in the course of your documentation, we will also need their permission so that we can preserve and share the recordings with future researchers. Please have any friends, family members, or community members complete the form if you wish to record them. If we do not receive releases from all participants, we cannot preserve the materials. Only one person will need to attach the files to the form – co-creators can simply fill in their personal information along with a description of the materials.
If you have any questions about this project, privacy, what to donate, the donation agreement, or anything else related to our efforts to collect materials related to the pandemic, please reach out to [email protected] or [email protected]. We can help!
