Following the processes of Professor Herbert “Tico” Braun at the UVA College of Arts & Sciences, Torreyson Library’s Archives and Special Collections would like to invite UCA faculty, staff, and students to participate in an archival project to “Write It Down.” (https://news.virginia.edu/content/write-it-down-historian-suggests-keeping-record-life-during-pandemic)
During these trying and stressful times, it can be helpful to write down and record what’s happening, not only for the sake of history, but also to help yourself. As Professor Braun mentions in the article above, “There is much that all of us and each of us have already experienced in the past few weeks that is shocking, unexpected, unpredictable, unknowable, new; much that we have not felt before or seen.”
Think about yourself, your emotions, concerns, your experiences with how the world is changing and your reactions to these changes. Think about your friends and family and your relationships with others and how these are changing now that we must perform social distancing and self quarantines. Think about society and institutions and about the different aspects of these times: the virus itself, the stock market, hoarding, public events, hospitals, universities, work, media, etc.
And “Write It Down.”
Even if it’s a few words here and there a day, a journal, a blog, a vlog, photos, poems, lyrics, songs, jot them down and then come back and make full and complete sentences. As Professor Braun says, “Each individual perspective is valuable, and adds to the whole.” And years later, when this is long over, and your children or grandchildren ask about what it was like during the pandemic, we will have this record to show them.
We would like for you to participate in this project by recording your thoughts in any of the ways mentioned above and emailing them to archives@uca.edu. You may submit these either as an MS Word document or as a PDF file. Audio recordings, photos, and videos are also welcome. We will include them all in a new collection preserving UCA’s response to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Thank you.