Journal of the Plague Year is a rapid-response, crowdsourced digital archive of the pandemic. It began March 13, 2020, and is still collecting. It is curated by a number of partners, most affiliated with universities, but actively seeks submissions from diverse people and communities beyond academia. The project uses both volunteer and paid undergraduate and graduate student workers as well.
Offering people a chance to witness others' experience of the pandemic, and to offer their own experience for witnessing, builds a sense of community that seems likely to have mental health benefits. The archive may also offer information, among its thousands of entries, from which policy makers and health professionals can glean useful knowledge of the pandemic's effects.
Explore the Humanities pathways that led to this project
Tempe, Arizona, USA