Interested in contributing oral histories of the COVID pandemic?

As you can imagine, oral histories of the pandemic are incredibly important stories to gather with care and sensitivity in this moment. In response to queries about contributing oral histories or how to conduct them, please explore the following resources. For advice on conducting oral histories on this topic and with best practices and ethics […]

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Too soon? Archives humor in a time of pandemic

"the archive is closed until further notice"– technically true– a bit boring– everyone is saying it "we have sealed the vault until the plague passes"– heroic– sounds like you have a treasure hoard in the strongroom– nobody can check as the archive is closed — UoY Borthwick Institute for Archives (@UoYBorthwick) April 1, 2020 RBML […]

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New Resource | Public Books Database

A number of University presses, in response to the nationwide COVID-related lockdowns, have made books previously behind paywalls, open to the public. A new website, Public Books Database, provides a central starting point for finding hundreds of freely accessible titles. The site is part of Public Books: a magazine of arts, ideas and scholarship. Access […]

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Rule of Law oral history project warns of crisis-induced legal challenges

A recent Justice Department request for “emergency powers” in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has civil liberties and anti-surveillance NGOs on heightened alert against opportunistic rollbacks of citizen freedoms. Worth listening to and reading at this time of precarity is the Columbia Center for Oral History Research’s Rule of Law Oral History Project: The Rule […]

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