- Stories submitted through the Archive Activation website will be deposited into the collections of the American Folklife Center
- Stories archived at the Library of Congress will help future generations understand the nation’s collective experience with the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Website will contribute to honoring loved ones lost to the pandemic
Library of Congress Launches New Website for Americans to Share COVID-19 Stories
Partnering with StoryCorps, the American Folklife Center will Commemorate America’s Pandemic Experience by Archiving All COVID-19 Stories Submitted Online
The Library of Congress announced today that it has launched the COVID-19 Archive Activation website, in collaboration with StoryCorps, to encourage all Americans to share their COVID-19 stories, or interview others about their pandemic experiences. Stories submitted through the Archive Activation website will be deposited into the collections of the American Folklife Center and made accessible at archive.StoryCorps.org.
By creating a tool to collect and preserve Americans’ pandemic experiences, the Library of Congress is honoring those who lost loved ones to COVID-19, those who worked on the frontlines of the pandemic, and those who were, and continue to be, impacted during this unprecedented time in American history.
“Curators and specialists at the Library of Congress are skilled at documenting history as it happens. Recording the voices and stories of Americans’ experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic for our national collections will honor this history and ensure these stories will not be forgotten,” said Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. “We are proud to collaborate with StoryCorps on this important work to build this archive of oral histories.”
The COVID-19 pandemic touched many aspects of American life, surfacing stories of adaptation, loss, and resilience. For some, COVID-19 remains part of their everyday experience, and sharing one’s story can be a way to heal, to commemorate, and to honor others affected by the pandemic. Stories archived at the Library of Congress will help future generations understand the nation’s collective experience with the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Our goal for the COVID-19 Archive Activation page is to honor those who experienced this tumultuous moment in our nation’s history, commemorate those who were lost to the pandemic, and to educate future generations about what life was like during COVID-19,” said Nicole Saylor, director of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. “We are particularly interested in doing this work through people’s stories, as storytelling is a crucial medium of communication and central to the work of the American Folklife Center.”
The COVID-19 Archive Activation website is part of the COVID-19 American History Project — a Congressionally mandated initiative to document and archive Americans’ experiences with the pandemic. In addition, the American Folklife Center has contracted professional oral historians to document the stories of frontline workers and created a research guide to COVID-19 collections. Key to the COVID-19 Archive Activation page is the American Folklife Center’s partnership with StoryCorps — a nonprofit organization founded in 2003 to collect stories that illuminate people’s humanity.
“StoryCorps is pleased to partner with the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress on this important and timely project to document social and cultural experiences of COVID-19 through first-person accounts and conversations. This partnership will build on over 20 years of collaboration between the American Folklife Center and StoryCorps and serve to further the mission of each institution to capture, describe, and preserve the cultural heritage of the United States,” said Virginia Millington, managing director of Program Operations at StoryCorps.
To share how you experienced the pandemic on the COVID-19 Archive Activation website, follow the prompts on this page to record your story or to interview someone else. The page includes tips and considerations for recording your story and a list of questions to prepare for interviews. Once finished, you can find your story, or that of others, on the StoryCorps Archive.
The Library of Congress is the world’s largest library, offering access to the creative record of the United States — and extensive materials from around the world — both on-site and online. It is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office. Explore collections, reference services and other programs and plan a visit at loc.gov; access the official site for U.S. federal legislative information at congress.gov; and register creative works of authorship at copyright.gov.
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Media Contact: María Peña, mpena@loc.gov
Public Contact: Douglas D. Peach, dpeach@loc.gov
PR 24-002
01/22/24
ISSN 0731-3527