- unitid
-
{"value"=>"186302", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"MssCol 186302", "type"=>"local_call"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"2020-2021", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"2020/2021"}
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Pandemic Diaries collection"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"281 computer files", "unit"=>"computer_files"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"5.3 gigabytes", "unit"=>"gigabytes"}]}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">Manuscripts and Archives</span>"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"The Pandemic Diaries collection was created from submissions to History Now: The Pandemic Diaries Project from 2020 to 2021. The project was led by Julie Golia, then Curator of History, Social Sciences, and Government Information at The New York Public Library. The collection contains audio recordings about individual or group experiences of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic."}
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"Multiple languages"}
{"value"=>"Mostly in English with some entries in Spanish, one in French, one in Korean, one with some Filipino words, and one with a mix of Hebrew and Yiddish words."}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Pandemic Diaries collection was compiled by The New York Public Library (NYPL) staff from submissions to History Now: The Pandemic Diaries Project from August 17, 2020 until July 9, 2021. The project, led by Julie Golia, then Curator of History, Social Sciences, and Government Information at the New York Public Library, was created to document personal or group experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic. The project asked individuals to submit their stories as audio files through NYPL's Pandemic Diaries Project website. The website had technical and topical guidance for potential narrators. The project's submission form also asked narrators for a description of their story and to select topics covered in their submissions.</p> <p>Golia collaborated with various organizations to conduct interviews for the project, including World Central Kitchen (WCK), a nonprofit and nongovernmental organization that provides food relief during and after climate, humanitarian, and community crises, and The Strangers Poets, a nonprofit organization that provides a platform and resources for Muslim writers. She partnered with Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG) founded by Danny Meyer. Golia also worked with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH). NYPL curator Paloma Celis Carbajal led the partnership with the City University of New York Mexican Studies Institute (CUNYMSI).</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Pandemic Diaries collection dates from August 2020 to July 2021, and consists of interviews, poems, essays, and recollections about the COVID-19 pandemic. The 268 entries from 238 narrators were collected through audio files submitted mainly via an online form on the History Now: The Pandemic Diaries Project webpage. Most entries in the collection were unsolicited contributions. Library staff also established partnerships with various organizations and conducted interviews with people associated with those organizations. New York Public Library (NYPL) curator Julie Golia; NYPL curator Paloma Celis Carbajal; and Hudson Park branch staff members Chris Ruiz and Emil Allakhverdov conducted the interview entries.</p> <p>General entries to the project usually disclose how the narrator heard about the COVID-19 virus, the first reported local COVID case, the stay-at-home order, and the pivot to online learning and work. The entries' audio files average thirty minutes. Most entries mention national and local politics and news. Submissions are spoken word poems, essays, interviews, or structured as journal entries.</p> <p>Additionally, several American university professors asked their undergraduate students to submit entries to the project for a course or a program. Undergraduate students from Brooklyn College; John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York (CUNY); Lehman College, CUNY; and Marist College also submitted entries to the project. The student entries often divulge the technical and emotional difficulties of online learning and foregoing prom and high school graduation.</p> <p>While most entries describe living through the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, some submissions recall the experience in Great Britain, South Korea, Mexico, Italy, Canada, China, and Japan.</p> <p>The rest of the collection holds entries from NYPL staff collaborations with various organizations.</p> <p>The thirty-six World Central Kitchen (WCK) interviews were conducted by Golia or Sam Chapple-Sokol, Editorial Director at WCK. Golia and Celis Carbajal co-conducted one interview in Spanish and English. The entries collectively offer insight into WCK's local, national, and international response to the COVID-19 pandemic.</p> <p>The twenty-two New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) interviews provide a glimpse into the department's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Narrators describe how their jobs changed during the pandemic response and the friction between the department and the leadership in City Hall.</p> <p>The Muslim Quarantine Journal entries, submitted in collaboration with the Strangers Poets, consist of three interviews conducted by Golia and one narrator reading her journal entries aloud. All four narrators discuss being Muslim and read sections of their diaries.</p> <p>The CUNY Mexican Studies Institute entry by Mexican writer Darío Aguilar Peregrina mentions his book about a lesbian cadet in the Mexican army and calls for more Latinx representation in United States literature.</p> <p>The Union Square Hospitality Group interview with CEO Danny Meyer offers a New York City businessman's perspective on the restaurant industry's shutdown and reopening during the COVID-19 pandemic.</p>"}
- arrangement
-
{"value"=>"<p>Files are separated into General Submissions and Collaborations. General Submission entries are arranged alphabetically by name; entries associated with a college course or program are separated. Anonymous entries are listed last. Collaboration entries are grouped by organization, then arranged alphabetically. Anonymous entries are listed last.</p>"}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Donated by way of an online form from 2020 to 2021.</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Processed in <span class=\"date\">2025</span>.</p>"}
- accessrestrict
-
{"value"=>"<p>Currently, audio files are available only in the reading room.</p>"}
- date_start
-
2020
- keydate
-
2020
- date_end
-
2021
- date_inclusive_start
-
2020
- date_inclusive_end
-
2021
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"Pandemic Diaries collection, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library"}