This COVID Recollections post, the American Folklife Center continues to commemorate the 5th anniversary of COVID-19 being declared a pandemic. Below, we highlight “Documenting COVID-19”–a recent panel discussion featuring cultural documentarians of the COVID-19 pandemic, which took place at the Library of Congress on March 11, 2025. The discussion is now available online. American Folklife Center staff organized “Documenting COVID-19” as part of the COVID-19 American History Project—an initiative to collect Americans’ COVID-19 stories and to archive them in the Library of Congress.
On March 11, 2025, the American Folklife Center organized “Documenting COVID-19”—a panel discussion about community-based research during the COVID-19 pandemic. The discussion’s goal was to explore what it means to do cultural documentation of a public health crisis by exploring the projects of four, innovative documentarians. These projects are important, as they elucidate the variety of community- and location-based COVID-19 experiences that were often overlooked by traditional media outlets. Participating panelists included:
- Midge Dellinger – oral historian, Historic and Cultural Preservation Department, Muscogee (Creek) Nation
- Dr. Allie Martin – Assistant Professor, Dartmouth College
- Nicole Musgrave – folklorist
- Camilo José Vergara – photographer and urban archivist
Together, the panelists’ work represents a fascinating array of COVID-19 documentation. For example, Nicole Musgrave conducted three oral history projects, primarily with women working in education and childcare in rural Appalachia. Camilo José Vergara’s photographic work centered on urban intersections in New York and New Jersey, frequented by African American and Latinx community members. Midge Dellinger’s project was an oral history initiative to collect stories of struggle and resilience from members of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. And, Dr. Martin’s work focused on examples of African American care during (and long before) the pandemic, using sound to represent acts of intra-community support. The discussion, which you can see in the player below, highlighted the innovative work of each panelist and common themes shared among their projects.
The American Folklife Center decided to hold the panel discussion on March 11, 2025, as the date corresponded to three important milestones. First, March 11th marked exactly five years since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. By hosting the panel on this date, AFC staff wanted to inspire reflection and dialogue about COVID-19, five years since the pandemic fundamentally altered American life. Second, the American Folklife Center published a new collection of COVID-19 interviews, It Takes a Village: Central Appalachian Childcare Workers’ Experiences of the COVID-19 Pandemic, on March 11th. This collection, created by panel participant Nicole Musgrave, features twenty-five interviews with childcare workers in five Appalachian states, documented from October 2023 to July 2024. The collection details these workers’ experiences of the pandemic and their reflections on the social and educational development of the children for whom they cared. [Editor’s note: It Takes a Village is the second collection from the COVID-19 American History Project to be posted online. The first, Pandemic Stories from New Orleans-Area Service and Hospitality Workers, is also available for access and research.] Third, March 11th was also the publication of panelist Dr. Allie Martin’s new monograph, Intersectional Listening: Gentrification and Black Sonic Life in Washington, DC (Oxford University Press). Congratulations, Dr. Martin!
Note: Privacy and publicity rights for individuals depicted may apply.
Note: Privacy and publicity rights for individuals depicted may apply.
Note: Privacy and publicity rights for individuals depicted may apply.
“Documenting COVID-19” was the first public program for the COVID-19 American History Project. The COVID-19 Research Guide, which highlights online collections of COVID-19 documentation in, and outside of, the Library of Congress, was the initial inspiration for “Documenting COVID-19.” Indeed, American Folklife Center staff learned of Dellinger and Vergara’s work while creating the online guide. At this writing, the American Folklife Center has collected over 100 interviews for the COVID-19 American History Project, in many locations throughout the United States. If you would like to add your pandemic story to the COVID-19 American History Project, visit the Archive Activation page. By following the page’s prompts, you can record your COVID-19 experience, or interview someone else about their pandemic stories. All recordings collected through the Archive Activate page will be archived in the collections of the Library of Congress, as part of the COVID-19 American History Project.