Covid-19 Oral History Project makes the cover of NYT Magazine
“Three Years Into Covid, We Still Don't Know How to Talk About It” by Jon Mooallem for the New York Times Magazine. Photos by Ashley Gilbertson.
In March 2020, while supply chains and borders ground to a halt, our team of sociologists, oral historians, and anthropologists at Incite and the Oral History Archives at Columbia stepped into action, documenting New York City’s experience of the pandemic.
Funded by the National Science Foundation and The Board of Trustees of the American Assembly, The NYC Covid-19 Oral History, Narrative, and Memory Project is composed of longitudinal interviews with hundreds of New Yorkers. As an interdisciplinary effort combining oral history and sociology, the result of this work is a rich, composite picture of the evolving struggle against Covid-19.
A crisis of this scale highlights structural fault-lines in our society, the strength and resilience of our communities, and transformations that we are only beginning to understand. The work of documenting this period will enable generations of researchers, health workers and advocates, historians, artists, and policymakers to learn from listening to and watching New Yorkers talk about how we made it through this extended crisis.
Launching a project of this scale is challenging and was made even more complex by the unfolding pandemic. Procedures we now take for granted, such as conducting interviews over Zoom, had not yet been formalized. The team drew from past rapid-response experience (for example, the September 11, 2001 Oral History Narrative and Memory Project) to develop strategies for conducting research in this new crisis.
Fragments of the Project have recently become available in a cover story by Jon Mooallem for NYT Magazine. In this stunning multimedia essay, Moollaem previews the archive—the voices that compose it, the researchers who produced it, and what we stand to gain from looking back on the beginnings of the pandemic (an activity Mooallem invites us to feel our resistance to).
This work wouldn’t have been possible without the team at Incite, including the administrators, project coordinators, and student workers who dedicated the resources and expertise needed to complete a project of this scale. Congratulations to the team, including:
Peter Bearman, Project Director
Nyssa Chow, Co-Director
Mary Marshall Clark, Co-Director
Ryan Hagen, Co-Director
Denise Milstein, Co-Director
Amy Starecheski, Co-Director
We are thrilled about the national conversation this work has already sparked and we look forward to releasing the archive in its entirety in late 2024 through the Oral History Archives at Columbia. We’ll notify you through our newsletter when the collection is available.
The next stage of the project includes securing support to build a comprehensive website to enhance public access to the material. If you’re interested in supporting this work or learning more, contact Michael Falco at mf2727@columbia.edu.