Launched in April 2020, the Bentley Historical Library’s COVID-19 collection offers a poignant glimpse of the pandemic’s impact on University of Michigan students, faculty and staff.
The project marked the first time that the Bentley used an online Google form to accept submissions digitally through crowdsourcing. Materials came in from all across campus.
Many of the items reflect how faculty members and students had to quickly pivot after campus largely shut down in mid-March last year. With her students scattered all across the country, Terri Sarris, senior lecturer in the Department of Film, TV and Media, asked them to shift gears and make their final video projects about their experiences during the pandemic.
Some students focused on feeling restless and what it was like to be back home with their families. They recorded footage of tributes to essential workers and people talking about their pandemic experiences. One student took video of the starkly empty streets of New York City.
“They really are a time capsule of what people were going through at that time,” Sarris said.
To learn more about the project and for ways to submit materials, visit the full story here.
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Contact: Ann Zaniewski
