The COVID-19 virus will shape global societies in ways we are perhaps only beginning to understand.
To document the pandemic’s role in history, many official sources – such as official communications, news coverage and government directives – will be preserved in archives of numerous organizations. The University Archives team also wishes to preserve the experiences of UCCS faculty, staff and students during this time.
All members of the UCCS community are invited to submit documentation of their personal experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Records can take any form – from stream-of-conscious thoughts to long essays, poems, photos, course work or lesson plans.
Along with your records, you should also submit factual information such as the times and dates of events, observations, names of geographic locations and individuals and other factual information that provides context to your entries. This information is important for historians to contextualize first-person sources.
Send your records as email attachments or messages to the University Archives. You may send as many records as you wish. If you have any questions, or if you would like to donate a physical object to the archives after campus has reopened, please contact Mary Rupp.
By participating in the project and submitting your work to the University Archives, you consent to have your record preserved in the University Archives, where it may be made available to researchers, used in teaching or in exhibitions. If you wish to remain anonymous, please state that as the first line of your email message.
The University Archives team has provided prompts below to spark reflections on this time.
Prompts for reflection: Students
- Did you move off campus suddenly due to COVID-19? What was that experience like? What kind of help did you have? Do you still have personal belongings on campus?
- How are your online classes going? What kinds of messages have you received from professors? How are other students handling the changes? How are you handling it?
- Are you involved in student organizations, sports or clubs? How has COVID-19 and campus response affected those?
- What is happening in your daily life at home? How are your parents/friends/partners/etc. doing?
- Do/did you have a job on or off campus? What kind of work did you do, and how has that been affected by COVID-19, lock-downs, and quarantine?
- Are you or anyone you know sick? What symptoms, response from medical personnel? Is COVID testing available?
Prompts for reflection: Staff
- What department do you work in? What are your job duties?
- How long were you able to work on campus once the transfer to remote work and learning began?
- How has your job changed since the campus closed?
- What is happening in your daily life at home? How are your parents/friends/partners/etc. doing?
- Are you or anyone you know sick? What symptoms, response from medical personnel? Is COVID testing available?
Prompts for reflection: Faculty
- What department(s) do you teach in? What classes are you teaching this semester?
- How long were you able to work on campus once the transfer to remote work and learning began?
- What was your transition to online learning like? What methods and platform(s) are you using to deliver information to your students?
- How has your job changed since the campus closed?
- What is happening in your daily life at home? How are your parents/friends/partners/etc. doing?
- Are you or anyone you know sick? What symptoms, response from medical personnel? Is COVID testing available?