Pandemic Religion: A Digital Archive

Items

• Help Us Make History

  Building on previous efforts to capture Yale undergraduates' perspectives of historic moments, this initiative has distributed an online survey to all Yale undergraduate students to capture their academic and personal experiences during the ongoing pandemic. The project's website invites students to respond to prompts, including sharing a photo of a study space or a reflection on what they miss most about campus life. Limited in demographic scope to Yale undergraduates, but geographic scope extends beyond New Haven itself. The intention seems to be to integrate this collection into Yale University Archives for future research.

• Corona Guidance: Religious Norms for Navigating the COVID-19 Pandemic

  David Friedenreich of Colby College is conducting the collecting and curating of Corona Guidance. Contributions include material from online sources that meet the following criteria: 1) Authored by religious authorities (mufti, rabbi, etc.) or organization in response to the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. 2) Offers practical guidance. 3) Draws on religious texts or values. 4) Is a written document (as opposed to a video or audio recording). The focus is on English-language materials but is not limited to particular geography; though lacking specific demographic scope there is an acknowledgment that it is not necessarily representative. The project is publicized through institutional and academic channels by posting texts of guidance documents and PDF captures of documents in original formats.

• Preaching Goes Viral

  Preaching Goes Viral is collecting digital recordings and transcriptions of materials related to religious life and practice: sermons; prayers; rituals and changes in worship; religious laws or guidelines about individual and communal practice; policy statements by organizations with scriptural, theological, moral, or other religious content; personal stories, blog posts, photographs, poems, and other expressions about religion & the crisis. Each submission is accompanied by information about the date and place of the material's creation and about the religious community in which it was created. Emphasis is on English-language material from the United States but includes some Hebrew and Yiddish materials and some from English-speaking countries abroad. Jewish focus on YUTorah.org and special projects on the Jewish community of Columbus, Ohio, and on Hillel campus groups. The project grew out of undergraduate courses on religion and on Jewish civilization. Student engagement will continue in the future with the hiring of summer interns for continued work and with analysis in fall courses in religious studies. Publicized through institutional communications and on social media by contributors.

• Series of essays and reports

  JPR has been publishing reports on the effects of COVID-19 on the Jewish community in the UK and Europe since June.

• Coping, Quarantine, COVID-19

  The goal of this virtual exhibition based in Israel is to explore the coping mechanisms, and more importantly, the anxieties and instabilities afflicted upon the artist during this time period. Submitted pieces should directly explore these themes in order to be considered for this virtual exhibition. All pieces deemed irrelevant to the theme, regardless of their quality, will not be considered.

• CV19Memorial

  This project is a platform for collective mourning, collecting testimonies about loss, care, suffering, and recovery. The online display encourages drawing connections between testimonies and exploring individual ones. There is a testimony submission form available in English and Spanish.

• COVID-19 Archive

  A project of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the COVID-19 Archive is collecting digital material to create a pandemic archive for the community. They’ll be sharing material and the narrative of collecting over the next few months, and enlisting the help and advice of their network of archives and experts to learn how to make an archive from scratch.

• Women Writing History: A Coronavirus Journaling Project

  Created to capture gendered experiences of the pandemic, this initiative solicits digital files of written, recorded, or artistic journals created in increments from women and gender non-binary individuals. Seeking contributions from those of any age and from all backgrounds, cultures, and socio-economic circumstances. Demographic data (age, location, occupation) is collected upon submission. In addition to collecting this material for future research, the museum's partnership with The New York Times creates the possibility that these materials will be used in contemporary publications.

• Collecting Community History: The West During COVID-19

  Working to help communities in the western United States identify items of significance connected to the Covid-19 pandemic and the international Black Lives Matter movement and protests. Accepting digital materials (written experiences, recipes, digital media, visual art, photograph) as well as photographs of objects for possible future donation. Museum has already begun posting material from this collecting initiative on its website.

• Pandemic Religion: A Digital Archive

  A collecting project that is actively receiving contributions of digital material from religious communities and from individuals. Asking for contributions mostly with attention to how religious practice has changed, communications within religious communities, and decisions made by these communities. Users can submit via an online form that captures information about the file as well, including date of creation, specific religious community and denomination, and location. The general public can view material that has been designated by the contributor and by staff review as fit for publication; other material will be available only to researchers. Collaboration with Jewish archives, including Yeshiva University, Capital Jewish Museum, and William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum.

• 24 Hours in a Time of Change

  Curators from several Smithsonian museums proposed an institution-wide collecting effort to document experiences from across the United States in a single day. This became "24 Hours in a Time of Change," and people across the nation contributed to the website by following a list of prompts. The National Museum of American History also formed a Rapid Response Collecting Task Force to collect objects, photographs, and documents that address topics such as medical procedures, philanthropic and civic responses, business practices, and culture. The National Museum of African American History and Culture is seeking digital materials, with particular attention to forging connections with communities that may not be online. Shared via institutional newsletters and on social media and covered in local and national news.

• COVID-19 and the Conservative Movement

  Starting with a focus on the community of the Jewish Theological Seminary, this initiative is seeking to document the Conservative Movement's experiences of the Covid-19 pandemic. Librarians at JTS have reached out to the university's community, including students, faculty, administration, alumni, and members of the board of directors. They have also made contact with affiliate organizations in the Conservative Movement, including the Rabbinical Assembly, United Synagogue, Camp Ramah, and the Cantors Assembly. Collecting both personal documents and organizational records. Receiving submissions by email at covidarchive@jtsa.edu.

• A Journal of the Plague Year: Jewish Melbourne

  This project is interested in the ways that the lives of individuals and families have been affected, the disruptions and adaptations to the daily and weekly cycles of Jewish life, the impact on schools and community organisations, educational and cultural programming, and on the celebration of Jewish holidays and memorial days. It is looking to collect both artifacts and personal reflections through voluntary submissions. The types of artifacts requested include: photographs and videos; social media posts and memes; ads for, links to, and videos of community events; running sheets or any behind-the-scenes materials for holding events; emails, texts, or articles related to Jewish events. The prompts for personal reflections to submit include writing about how COVID has affected Jewish holiday observances and the adaptations that have been made to Jewish practice. There is an online portal for submissions and the contributions are reviewed and published by a curatorial/research team at the ACJC.

• Haggadah: Telling Your Story in the Time of Coronavirus

  This project is collecting digital material in a variety of file forms, including text, images, and audio and visual files. It is interested in documenting social media posts, oral histories, organization announcements, and synagogue services streamed online. The geographic reach of the project extends throughout Washington State, attempting to engage individuals, including medical workers, students, and Jewish organizations. It engages different constituencies as "digital curators" (e.g., students working on students' material collection and tech industry members working to reach others in the field). Synagogues were contacted at the project's start and will be followed up with over a period of time. It has been publicized online by the institution, in the local Jewish news, and in synagogue newsletters.

• Black Carolinians Speak: Portraits of a Pandemic

  A mandate to document the experience of Black residents of South Carolina for inclusion at the South Carolina Department of Archives and History. Collecting written testimonies of personal experience (diaries, letters, essays, poetry), artwork, photographs, videos, screenshots of social media posts, and testimony from children and teens. There are plans to follow up with oral history interviews after the pandemic has ended and in-person story collection is possible. The project has received extensive coverage in local news. As of June 13, the collection includes 13 interviews with doctors, elected officials, and everyday people and 45 submissions of text and images.

• Coronavirus Chronicles: Sharing Stories Through Isolation

  This transnational database, started by University of Pennsylvania history graduate students, collects stories about Covid-19 and its impact on everyday life. The project is accepting primary sources in any digital format, but with a focus on three collecting streams: diaries, photos and videos, and poetry. Promoted on social media.

• Bronx Covid-19 Project

  Fordham students and faculty are conducting interviews with Bronx residents. The initiative seeks to capture the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on Bronx residents, especially people of color, poor people, and immigrants. The interview framework has incorporated changing issues, namely responses to racially discriminatory policing of social distancing measures and rising protests against police brutality in the wake of George Floyd's death. The archive consists of oral history interviews conducted by video conferencing technology.
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  Thin Places: A Podcast About Finding God in Everyday Life

  Thin Places is a new podcast experiment from Zion Episcopal Church in Douglaston, Queens NY: it's a way for the Zion community to share the new ways we’re meeting God in this time of COVID-19—to tell each other about the “thin places” we’ve found. Places where God feels close, where we can feel the breath of the Holy Spirit passing over us, even if just for a moment in the midst of our uncertainty and stress, our frustrations and our griefs. Join us as we explore!

• History Responds

  Building on rapid response collecting methods developed in the wake of September 11, Occupy Wall Street, and the 2017 Women's March, curators at the New-York Historical Society began efforts to collect objects, images, artworks, and ephemera for future research and inclusion in exhibitions. The process to donate materials begins with filling out an inquiry form to share information about the object. Covid-19 material is currently being collected alongside material documenting current Black Lives Matter protests under the purview of this project. Collecting is geographically focused on New York and the surrounding region.

• A/P/A Voices: A COVID-19 Public Memory Project

  Starting with Asian/Pacific/American communities in New York City, New York University plans to conduct oral history interviews for the dual purposes of documentation and of asserting subjectivity of Asian/Pacific Americans. Interest in recording experiences of anti-Asian violence and xenophobia and issues from the perspective of healthcare and low-wage service workers who are disproportionately immigrants. The desire is to collect recorded interviews and digital copies of documents now, to be supplemented by formal oral histories when in-person interviewing is possible.

• OneWorld COVID-19 Special Collection

  This collection attempts to reflect the experiences of individual Chinese-Americans and efforts in the community to address the current crisis. Digital files (including photographs, letters, journals, messages, videos, and oral histories) can be submitted by email. Specific interest in documenting anti-Asian acts. Publicized through institutional email announcements, Chinese community news outlets, as well as social media and New York-area news.

• Letters from 6' Away

  Like other collecting efforts of this archive, this initiative seeks to capture the diversity of South Asian American experiences. Individuals are invited to write a letter to themselves for inclusion in the archival collection.

• Objects of Comfort

  Although the museum is not currently able to receive donations of physical items, it is collecting digital photos, texts, and audio recordings about objects that bring comfort in the current moment. This is done to support further exploration of material culture and immigration focused on themes of foodways, religion, fun, work or education, and attire. These materials will be added to the museum's collection and stored with a stable link for access in the future. This collecting initiative has been promoted through partnerships with educators (who have the capacity to build a sub-collection for their class in this project) and on social media.

• The COVID-19 Oral History Project

  Accepting both crowdsourced oral histories and formal oral histories, this initiative is a partner project with The Journal of the Plague Year. Influenced by rapid response collecting, this project has been driven by students in the IUPUI Public History Program to capture the experiences of individual people in Indiana and beyond during the pandemic. Embracing open access and open source frameworks, the interviews added to the collection will be shared with researchers and with the public to help individuals and communities interpret this pandemic.

• Covid-19: First Person Histories

  As a part of the project on the history of psychiatry, this collection links to first-person accounts about Covid-19 that have been published and are available online. These include the experiences of writers, healthcare personnel, students, restaurant workers, travelers, and others. Maintained by Megan Wolff, a Senior Staff Associate in Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College with the intention of serving as a resource for current readers and future scholars. Items can be added by contacting Megan Wolff.