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- Convenors:
-
Fredrik Nilsson
(Åbo Akademi University)
Niklas Huldén (Åbo Akademi University)
Karin Gustavsson (Lund University)
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- Formats:
- Panel
- Stream:
- Archives and Sources
- Sessions:
- Wednesday 23 June, -
Time zone: Europe/Helsinki
Short Abstract:
We propose a panel that will focus on three themes. What did we learn about documenting crises and fast changes during the pandemic? What has happened since the material was collected? How can we establish transnational cooperation as we document acute crises?
Long Abstract:
As the pandemic hit Europe in the spring of 2020, archives and museums almost immediately began documenting the effects on everyday life. A vast source material was collected that captures changing habits, worries, fears and perhaps even ignorance; the material mirrors surprise and frustration as everyday life all of sudden seemed strange, unrecognizable.
We propose a panel that will focus on three themes. Firstly, what did we learn about documenting crises and rapid changes; what was difficult and what could have been done differently; what methods were used and to what extent were they adjusted to be able to capture different aspects of the crises?
Secondly, we want to discuss what has happened since the material was collected; have there been any follow-ups; in what ways have the material been used and/or made available; will material collected by museums and archives with a weak tie to the universities still make the material available to the researchers?
Thirdly, the pandemic reminded archives and museums that crises of this magnitude are not stopped by national borders, and perhaps documenting crises should not stop at the borders either. How can we establish transnational cooperation as we document acute crises? What rules or traditions do we need to break to be ready to document the next crises?
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Wednesday 23 June, 2021, -Paper short abstract:
It feels that everyone was 'at it': museums, tradition and municipal archives, journalists, art galleries and libraries; all chronicling rapid change in everyday life in early 2020. But were there dissenters? And what purpose may this material serve; when, for whom and how?
Paper long abstract:
Early 2020 saw a veritable frenzy of rapid-response documentation of the impact of COVID-19 on everyday life across the globe, and particularly in Europe and North America. Archives of tradition were to the fore in this, often drawing on established collection platforms, contributors/audiences, and preservation and dissemination platforms. There was discussion on remote social enquiry, and on the desirability, ethicality and potential of crises or rapid-response documentation, with various positions taken. This paper documents the experience of the Cork Folklore Project's 'Chronicles of COVID-19' collection project, touching on the shift from collection in audio to text and images, strategies for inclusion, lessons learned and connections made.
Tradition archives are well placed to move between levels of life, from the intensely local to the global, and share motivations regarding representation of peoples, cultures and traditions within the context of publicly-available resources. An unsuccessful application to the European Cultural Foundation's 'Culture of Solidarity' fund on behalf of the SIÉF Working Group on Archives proposed to draw on this expertise in the creation of a shared, public archival platform. Perhaps the establishment of such a platform that would draw out connections (both in our practice and in people’s experiences) while maintaining space for diversity, vernacularity and contextualisation is possible, and would serve to consolidate and share the work done, as well as showcasing archives of tradition as important and thoughtful chroniclers of life in changing times.
Paper short abstract:
The Lockdown Lore Collection Project in Scotland has renewed itself throughout the pandemic’s ebbs and flows. Changes in government and public attitudes have affected submissions, the project, volunteers and the archivist. I’ll explore lessons learned, collaborative uses, and archival partnerships.
Paper long abstract:
Though we had ample warning, the coronavirus pandemic arrived like a powerful tide, disorientating and stranding many of us. Despite subsequent ebbs and flows, the crowdsourced Lockdown Lore Collection Project in Scotland has regularly renewed itself, collecting pandemic pearls throughout.
After a brief project overview, this paper will explore the ways in which the project and its crowdsourced nature have countered my initial expectations. This has most often been due to the nature of the project’s submission categories, and the contributors who have transgressed my ‘rules’, persuading me to expand, or at least reinterpret, these categories.
Following this, the paper will discuss the ways in which the materials have been crowdsourced – both through individuals and through collaborative community partnerships – as well as how these materials have and will be presented both publicly and in academic research contexts.
I will then touch on the project’s shifting geographic responsibilities, as more and more contributors ignored the last word in the tagline ‘documenting creative responses to the coronavirus pandemic in Scotland’, leaving open the possibility for transnational partnerships.
Finally, changes in government regulations and public responses to the pandemic have not only affected the project’s submissions and aims, but also the volunteer fieldworkers and the archivist dealing with the materials. As that archivist, I will consider what can be learned about managing large projects in crises contexts with very small teams.
Paper short abstract:
During the spring of 2020, SLS archives undertook several collections regarding COVID-19 and life in lockdown. As such, the collections simultaneously constituted a pilot project for collecting in novel ways and employing various digital techniques.
Paper long abstract:
Two days after a state of emergency was declared in Finland, the SLS archives published the questionnaire “Finland in lockdown! How does Corona effect you?” It soon transpired that COVID-19 not only united humankind, but also heritage institutions such as archives and museums.
For the SLS archives, the documentation work during the spring became a workshop for experimenting with various methods of collecting. The questionnaire was supplemented with photo documentations, virtual interviews and collections in social media.
Institutions worldwide documented the ravages of the pandemic, which in turn sparked great interest in cooperation, both in Nordic and national contexts. Primarily, the cooperation concerned exchanges of experiences regarding the actual colleting, which took place at many levels and from different perspectives, rather than a discussion of the material collected or the archiving process.
It remains to be seen how researchers will use this material. Several stages of coping with the pandemic remain: how will the rapidly developed vaccines be received, and what lasting impact will the year 2020 have had on consumption, travelling, working life etc. It seems likely that the documentation of the pandemic will continue throughout 2021 and that further follow-ups will be conducted.
Paper short abstract:
During 2020 archives and museums collected both personal memories and artefacts related to the corona outbreak. The aim was to document the unique situation and to save memories for the future. How can the experiencies from this year be used in cooperation between academia and archives and museums?
Paper long abstract:
Many archives and museums express a wish that their collections should be used by scholars at universities, at the same time as they don´t have either staff with research experience or ongoing cooperation with universities. Neither is the collecting made with research interest considered, circumstances that complicates good intentions.
During the corona outbreak, we have seen many initiatives from archives and museums to collect personal memories through different methods combined with collection of artefacts and documents related to the pandemic. In this unexpected situation, museums and archives had the opportunity to be more “fast-footed” than scholars from the universities, where there seldom is possible to leave ongoing projects in order to collect data in an acute situation.
I want to discuss how the experiencies from the efforts made by museums and archives during 2020 can be used to develop the cooperation between academia and museums and archives also in other matters than the pandemic. Are there differences concerning methods and ethical regulations that complicates cooperation? Can these differences become a positive challenge that can develop methods and practices among researchers as well as at museums and archives? Can academia inspire and improve collection practices with theoretical framework? In the work with documenting current phenomena, museums and archives mean to collect for the future and for forthcoming research, but will that happen when the ties between them and academia are weak? What differences are there in the understanding of the words “collect” and “research” within these two sectors?