The Pandemic Archive

COVID-19 may be the public health event of the century and its impact touches us all, from young to old, from all parts of the world, from the healthy to the sick. Please join the Yale School of Public Health's Humanities, Arts and Public Health Practice Initiative (HAPPY) in building a multidisciplinary archive of the human experiences that comprise public health and community wellness in this moment in history.

We invite you to contribute to a publicly accessible archive documenting the experiences of living during the covid-19 pandemic. Submit a piece of writing, a scan or photo of a piece of artwork, a video, a list of the books you’re reading, the music you’re listening to, the places you’re finding hope, or just a list of the contents of your thoughts, days, time.

Tell us about your life right now:

• What do you want future generations to know about this time?
• Where are you finding joy? Comfort? Hope
• How are arts and music helping you get through your days?
• What experiences are you having that you want to share with others?
• How is your life changing during the pandemic?
• What are you reading, listening to or watching?
• What images describe your day dealing with covid-19?
• How do you want the world to change as a result of this pandemic?
• What are your hopes for the future?

Send us your answers, thoughts or stories, along with files and links to your artwork (poetry, drawings, paintings, video, photographs, plays, etc...)

We will develop a public website documenting your written responses and any links you provide to your artwork. We will also archive your submissions at the Yale Library for future generations to have a window into this moment. Please join us in preserving the human experiences of this time, for ourselves in the present and for those in the future.

For further information, email Karen Deary

We will post any text submissions publicly on our website - check back soon to see submissions! We will include in the post any links you provide to your artwork, music, video, or other forms of work that you would like to share. We will also archive your artwork and text submissions at the Yale Library for potential future viewing by the public, use in exhibits, study and education.

Submissions to the archive will be licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic License (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0), meaning that others are free to use them for non-commercial purposes, provided they do not edit or otherwise change your work. More information is available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/.

Please make sure your submissions are your own original work, and know that we will remove the last names of any individuals mentioned in your submission in order to protect their identities. We are not able to post work that is unlawful, fraudulent, threatening, harassing, libelous, defamatory, discriminatory, obscene, or similarly objectionable or harmful. Other than that, we look forward to sharing a wide diversity of experiences of this unique and challenging historical moment. Thank you for helping us preserve these experiences for future generations.