COVID-19 DIARIES
THE BRIDGEPORT HISTORY CENTER ASKS FOR DIARIES THAT CHRONICLE DAILY LIFE UNDER THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
“TAKEN INDIVIDUALLY, (THE ENTRIES) PROVIDE WONDERFUL DETAILS ABOUT SOMEONE’S SPECIFIC CIRCUMSTANCES. TAKEN ALL TOGETHER, IT’S CLOSER TO A TAPESTRY THAT SHOWS THE REAL DEPTH AND BREADTH OF THE PANDEMIC’S IMPACT.”
In this day and age, most of us keep daily records of our lives using social media. We Tweet about our breakfast and what we watched on TV. We post Instagram videos of weird stuff our pets and children do.
During this COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve become even more studious chroniclers of our own lives. People Tweet about their anxiety over the spreading virus, and their struggles with distance learning and keeping their homes stocked with food and supplies. They post videos about their new at-home “workspaces” and photos of their pets interloping on their precious real estate of personal space.
Since most of us are already recording our experiences in these scary times, the Bridgeport History Center is asking Connecticut residents to take it just a little further. The center, which is part of the Bridgeport Public Library system, has launched The COVID-19 Journal Project – A Bridgeport History Initiative.
The idea is for people to record their experiences during this time using their chosen format — hand-written diaries, Word documents, photos, videos and other formats are welcome.
The project was the brainchild of Meg Rinn, assistant archivist and librarian with the Bridgeport Public Library. She says she saw a Twitter post from a historian advocating that people keep a diary of their experiences in these outrageous times, and it struck a chord with her.
“There’s also been a lot of good jokes about writing journals to use as a video game plot device, and that drove home the thought of, ‘people are already talking about this, let’s provide some guidance and a clear place of where to give a journal like this when all is said and done,’ ” Rinn says.
There is precedent for these kinds of diaries. The Bridgeport Public Library web page about the journal project has a link to a page from the National Archives in the United Kingdom about journal entries that were done during the Great Plague that hit London in the 1660s. And the Bridgeport History Center itself has deep archives of photos and written materials from key moments in local history.
The idea is to paint a vivid picture of a unique moment in history, Rinn says.
“Taken individually, (the entries) provide wonderful details about someone’s specific circumstances,” she says. “Taken all together, it’s closer to a tapestry that shows the real depth and breadth of the pandemic’s impact.”
Rinn says there are no strict guidelines about what people should include in their regular entries, and that those entries can take nearly any form people want. But, obviously, there are some bits of information Rinn and other historians are particular curious about.
“As archivists we can make an educated guess or two about what future historians will be interested in when studying COVID-19,” she says. “That includes all the little details about how we entertained ourselves during self-isolation, what it was like to suddenly be doing virtual classrooms only, what it was like living with someone who is on the front lines and has to take extra precautions, and those are only three very specific examples of what some people are going through. Everyone’s experience and circumstances are important right now.”
Diarists are even welcome to share their thoughts using a form of contemporary communication that would have never been dreamed of during the time of the Great Plague — the meme.
“Our web page jokes a little about saving memes into the journals as well, but we actually mean that pretty sincerely,” Rinn says. “Online humor is one method people are using to work through everything right now, as well as something ephemeral. Capturing that is important, even if it sounds silly.”
The library is asking that people keep their diary entries for as long as the pandemic lasts, then submit them using a contact form on the library’s web site.
“The end result of this project, along with collecting local reporting from sources (such as newspaper), other photographs, flyers, notices, and other elements will form an archival collection dedicated to documenting the immediate effects of COVID-19 in Bridgeport and our neighboring towns — that is, if people from those areas wish to donate,” Rinn says. “All the material will be available at the Bridgeport History Center in perpetuity, just like the rest of our archival collections.”
Each journal will be placed into an acidfree folder and labeled, before being placed in an archival box. Video journals and other digital files will live on a dedicated server and back-up copies will be made on CDs and USB sticks.
However, Rinn concedes that chronicling one’s life during times of crisis can be a challenge, and not just because it can be hard to be reflective and thoughtful when the news is often frightening and sad.
Sometimes — perhaps especially in a crisis — you just don’t know what to say. That’s a problem Rinn has bumped up against. She says she’s started a diary but it’s “mostly photos from my phone and notes about what I’m eating at the moment. I debated a pen and paper journal, but realized that most of what I’m recording is already digital and that I didn’t want to make people have to puzzle through my handwriting in the future.”