Bored, stressed, overwhelmed and need an outlet?
We are living in historic times with the Covid-19 global pandemic. Future historians will want to know how we in Northern California spent our days, reacted to the crisis, dealt with social distancing and shelter in place, worked from home, taught our students and children, learned in a shifting educational environment, cared for each other and much more. For an example of a long range project check out the Mass Observation Project which documents the everyday life of Britain.
We encourage you to start a journal to record your experiences. We are looking for both campus and community stories. How did you spend your days and weeks? You can document by more than just writing about your activities- draw or paint pictures, create poems, relate news stories, or gather stories from others. Don’t fret about spelling and grammar. This is an exercise in self-expression. Here is one historian’s advice. Format can vary. The diary can be hand written or typed. Keep it in a notebook, typed in an MS word document, create it on handwritten sheets of lined or plain old paper.
Start creating now, and later keep the journal for yourself or share with the community by depositing your paper or digital diary in the Meriam Library Special Collections & University Archives Northern California Covid-19 Collection. To sign up please fill out this form.
Paper and print diaries can be submitted in-person to the Special Collections & University Archives Department when the library opens up. The department is located on the third floor MLIB 305, zip 295.
For digital submissions please use this form.
Questions and for more information on this project contact Pam Kruger or Zohra Saulat.