The Heritage Room at the Athens-Clarke County Library is creating an archive to document local experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of its mission to document Clarke County and surrounding areas, the Heritage Room currently archives bound materials, microfilm, and genealogical resources, all focused on local, Georgia, and Southern history.
Archives and Special Collections Coordinator Ashley Schull says that the library’s goal for this project is to support the community through documentation.
“It’s really about making sure we have an enduring history,” she says.
As for the importance of documenting this tumultuous time period, Schull states that history offers essential lessons: “If we look back at the Spanish Flu pandemic in the early 1900s, 1920s, especially concerning local resources, there is not much documentation. Generally what we see in media coverage is that it only covers a certain portion of the population. It doesn’t always complete the history of everybody, so our goal is to make sure we have as complete a history as possible.
Though social media may level the playing field of who gets documented, Schull warns that posts often get buried or are never saved.
“The internet is not forever—we’ve learned that through sites like Myspace and things like that over the years,” Schull adds.
By maintaining access copies as well as loading archival materials to a preservation server and the cloud, the Heritage Room takes steps to create a permanent, lasting record.
As for the COVID-19 archive itself, the Heritage Room has received a diverse array of submissions, from simple photos to a video made by the staff and residents of a local long-term health care facility. A local nonagenarian also sent in an abridged autobiography, documenting her life since her birth shortly after the Spanish Flu.
Shull says, “She kind of goes decade by decade or era by era and gave a short, little paragraph of what her experiences were and then really ties it in at the end saying this is my life now. It was beautiful, it was gorgeous.
Overall, Schull says that submissions so far have been truly personal, often documenting citizens’ concerns for their wellbeing and that of their families.
While the archive is not yet viewable by the public, residents are encouraged to contribute by visiting the website athenslibrary.org.