The Empty Campus
A Digital History of the COVID-19 Pandemic at a Public University
Mention the year 2020 and many images and feelings will likely arise: medical masks, social distancing, quarantining, the fear of the unknown. This pandemic that the world has experienced generated unprecedented uncertainty. Since this time in our life is, and will be, a major part of history, it is important to document its effects.
The Empty Campus is the umbrella project for a digital archival project and podcast that we, students of the Honors Seminar History, created in Spring 2022. Through Perseverantia: The Empty Campus we wanted to capture the stories of people of the Fitchburg State University campus during an unprecedented time. We interviewed students, faculty, and staff about their experiences of juggling a pandemic and everything else that comes with life.
About Us
Under the supervision of Dr. Katherine Jewell, our class built this archive and podcast. We are Honors students attending Fitchburg State University set on capturing this history and Fitchburg State's experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Week 1 to Week 5 was us introducing ourselves and getting aquainted with what oral history is and how we can create our own.
We went back in time by reading texts from Fitchburg State University's archive. We set out to research the experiences that students in the 1910s and 1920s who dealt with the Spanish Flu.
Next we decided on how to split up the interview categories to ensure every voice was heard. We ultimately decided on:
Administration
Campus Life
Liberal Arts & Sciences
Professional Degrees
Once we decided on the categories, we created a consent form for all participants to act in accordance with ethical guidelines and with that we set out to capture Fitchburg State University experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic.
After we obtained a sufficient amount of interviews, we split into new task groups to divide and conquer this podcast
What you see here is the fruit of our labor~
Bibliography
Cohen-Stratyner, Barbara. “What Democracy Looks like: Crowd-Collecting Protest Materials.” Museums & Social Issues 12, no. 2 (2017): 83–91.
Frank, Gillian. Fern Hill: A Podcast About Growing Up During a Pandemic. Podcast, MP3 audio. https://open.spotify.com/show/4d9zZaLrTi2JOLKlvbciIf?si=31bf5f7ad4b747dd.
_______. Class Presentation. Zoom. March 25, 2022.
Jewell, Katherine R. “Worlds Collide” The American Historian, March 2017.
_______. “Day 1 Honors Seminar.” Honors Seminar in History. Lecture, January 19, 2022.
_______.“Day 3 Digital Humanities Public History Digital History Definitions.” Defining Digital Public History. Lecture, January 26, 2022.
_______. “HON March To Do Cloud.” Word Cloud. Created By Oral History Transcripts
Kramer, Michael J. “Toward a Definition of Digital Public History.” Michael J Kramer. Accessed April 20, 2022. https://www.michaeljkramer.net/toward-a-definition-of-digital-public-history/.
Schwartz, Pamela. “Preserving History as It Happens: Why and How the Orange County Regional History Center Undertook Rapid Response Collecting after the Pulse Nightclub Shooting.” Museum 97, no. 3 (June 2018): 16–19.
Tindal, Brenda. “K(NO)W Justice K(NO)W Peace: The Making of a Rapid-Response Community Exhibit.” The Public Historian 40, no. 1 (February 1, 2018): 87–96.
Tracy, Kisha. Class Presentation. March 23, 2022.
Other Sources Consulted
The Covid-19 Oral History Project, IUPUI Arts & Humanities.
Pandemic Oral History Project, Archives of American Art,
Pandemic Oral History Project, Utica College,
The Story Cycle: Americans in a Pandemic, University of Florida,
Oral History Project: Pandemic Stories, St Joseph Public Library,
Documenting UMass Boston Community’s Response to Covid-19 Pandemic
Tech and Interviews flow chart:
Some additional suggestions for tech here
Sample Interview Questions:
Sample Release Agreement Form and Biographical Information and Consent Form