HIS 5944 (2/20-2/26/2021)

 

This week continued to see the collection progress to the approval stage of a plethora of interviews. Unfortunately, they have not all been approved nor public access quite yet. As of the publication of this blog, a few other interviews were slated to be approved and published to STARS. The process of publication requires approval from Mary Rubin so it is out of my control. However, we hope that it is published next week and will have a large bulk of the interviews that we have slated. As a reminder, these interviews include students that experienced the pandemic through different ways which I implore you to look at. Patience seems to always be a good characteristic to have as one cannot rush through oral histories as it requires a great deal of attention.

Mary and I came up with Marketing Mondays where we discuss marketing for the project. Up until now, Mary has refrained from posting the existence of the project to social media for several reasons. Posting on social media may give us a large influx of people that want to be interviewed that will overwhelm the project. In addition, we must question the morality of these people wanting to participate, only wishing to muddy the true purpose of the project. I have sent emails to professors who still have not come back to me with a confirmation of interest. This includes professors from outside the History Department which does disappoint me. This upcoming Monday will see Mary and I contemplate if we need to post this on social media to draw in more people as interviews have slightly slowed down.

I have also been working on perusing through a few reviews of interviews that were done last semester from my previous internship. A student from Dr. Murphree’s Professionalization the History Major interviewed students from Student Government within the University which gave me an insightful look at an often-overlooked perspective from a student. The student was very skilled at discussing and properly giving questions to the interviewee. Upon my reviews, I have tried to incorporate some characteristics exhibited by the student into my own interviews which I have planned.

This week also was my mid-term evaluation that I had emailed Mary Rubin about. Reviewing it again, I was happy to see that Mary was eager to have me on the team as a part time intern. She commented on my hard work and addition to the team which gave me more motivation and self-worth. There was only comment that gave me something to think about which was my dress code. Working as a part time student in a pandemic has certainly made me dress a little less formal than usual. It has illuminated that most oral histories seem to have a professional aspect and yet the COVID-19 project contrasts this with students or faculty being at home. They are in their regular clothing that they would wear at home which is slightly more relatable than being in a standard interview room with a crew there. While I do need to think about my choice of clothing, it also has led me to believe that the appearance of these interviews may seem more relatable to the viewer.

HIS 5944 (2/13-2/19/2021)

 

This week, the internship had me continuing my process of going through administrative processes. With the publication of this blog, all the administrative process should be finished for now. The most exciting portion of this week stemmed from being able to publish these interviews for the public to view. I am happy to see that these interviews can now be accessed and presented out. Next week should see them available as submission takes some time due to the approval process. Even my own interview will be there for public research if it ever may be accessed. There is some worry that some of these interesting or insightful interviews may never be utilized for public research. It is so hard to determine if in the future a student will recognize these interviews and understand the weight behind them. Certainly, that situation has made me look at archived oral histories far more differently such as the September 11 digital archive.

The weight of these interviews becomes more easier once time has set in. These interviews carry tragedy and hope of a better future without being stifled by the fear of a pandemic. I encourage those that read this blog to investigate these interviews and watch one to see how people coped through the pandemic. There were so many ways people coped such as playing games, picking up hobbies, watching shows, and other recreational activities.

The marketing of the interviews has been slightly better than previous weeks with continued discussion of emailing people previously interested. Mary had given me a list of people who had already been interested yet refused to be interviewed. It is disappointing yet understandable with how some people become spontaneously busy between semesters. However, others have asked to be interviewed once more which I am ecstatic about. I am still in the talks with emailing the professors from different colleges within the university, yet I have not received an answer yet.

During one of our private meetings, Mary provided me with some feedback with how I am conducting these interviews which has made me consider implementing them in future ones. One critique was my use of “I assume” which conveys more of me guiding the interviewer which is not a good thing. I realized while reading the transcripts how much I say it which made me laugh, yet also pushing me to tone that down. In addition, another piece of feedback or discussion was how interviewers fall within two categories: introverted and extroverted. The introverts are the ones who speak less and answer the question very fast when interviewed with as little detail as possible. These people are difficult from the interviewer perspective because you must hone your skill of trying to bring out their unique perspectives. I will say that the introverts seem to be the diamond in the rough more often than the extroverts. The extroverts are the ones who talk for hours on end and provide so many details which can be helpful. However, the interviewer needs to know when to stop them from talking their ear off. These skills make oral history more complex than what I previously subscribed it to be which I am glad to learn.

HIS 5944 (2/6-2/12/2021)

 

The COVID-19 project continues to be a fascinating project that allows me to practice oral history within a real-life event. This week acted as catching up regarding administrative work as I was still organizing, and filling paperwork related to the interviews I have conducted for the past semester or so. Some interviews’ paperwork still was not filled out or completed that dated to last year in the Fall Semester. The paperwork usually consists of the interviewees name, private information, and some description of the interview to be filed into the process for when it is published. These documents allow for the Special Collection and University Archives workers to use these metadata sheets to enhance either their transcription or review process to assure proper quality control. However, I will admit that the paperwork end of oral history becomes more tedious than the actual interviews.

Progress on marketing or interviews have stymied due to the administration process yet we have a good sample size of participants willing to be interviewed. This includes my previous discussions on professors such as Dr. Murphree or Dr. Hardy to share their perspective on the pandemic. While Dr. Hardy politely declined, Dr. Murphree expressed interest and it helps that he knows me personally from my classes. I hope that this does not affect the interview itself. As for professors such as those within the departments outside of the History department, I have been patiently debating on whether to send an email. Because of this administrative process, it was my thought that adding more interviews would only exacerbate the process.

This week taught me more about filling paperwork and understanding the importance of responsibility. It is my responsibility to fill this paperwork so that the other workers can properly perform their tasks. A failure within the process results in a lower quality and reflects poorly on both the project and those working under it.

The internship has mainly been focused on working from home this week which brings its own challenges. I will be frank that being at home can be a large distraction and it is easy to slack off because of the inability of someone looking over. However, I have found myself being more productive at home than at work due to my comfortability of home. The COVID-19 pandemic has tested some workers and students from dealing and being properly motivated to work through a pandemic.

I have learned the value of motivation and self-worth through this internship that I never properly valued as much as an undergraduate. Being motivated to solve or complete a task lets you focus on the important things instead of being distracted by outside factors. It is a quality that many of us do not dwell on due to our own motivations to stay focused. I recall that interview with the freshman student who shared their story that motivation was critical in the pandemic because it is easy to fall into the rabbit hole of boredom and sloth. I hope that when I find myself in said hole that I can dig myself out of it easily.

HIS 5944 (1/30-2/5/2021)

 

This week continued to run administrative tasks with some interviews sprinkled into the week. I have been attempting to catch up with providing the collection with consent forms from myself and the interviewees which takes some time. In addition, I must fill out sheets that include data about the interview which can be difficult as interviews begin to pile up. However, the internship has taught me endurance when faced with a large task and to work at it slowly. The light will eventually be at the end of the tunnel. While tedious, the quality of the interviews has continued to be high quality for university students. Most students seem comfortable with discussing the COVID-19 pandemic’s effects on their lives.

When I conduct an interview, typically, I remind them that it is public, and I may ask questions they have already heard before during the interview. Lately, due to my commitment to empathy, I have begun incorporating other warnings or reminders. I often ask the student or faculty member that if they ever feel uncomfortable with a question, they can move on which I think is acceptable. Empathy is always a good thing to have in oral history and with such a topic that is fresh in their minds that sparks tragedy. I was blessed to not have any significant tragedies during the pandemic, but from hearing so many dark moments, the interviewees may have already coped with it. Oral history can be a dangerous practice when you skew people into having to relive a certain dark time. I cannot fathom how Holocaust survivors conduct oral histories and not crack under the stress of having to relive and remind themselves of the horrors they have seen.

I’d like to talk about aspects that seem to be less accentuated during these interviews as notes on what the collection does not seem to have. One aspect is the dorm life that seems missing as students seemed content with the university’s response regarding management of dormitories. Another is the faculty which I have not conducted an interview yet as setting appointments can be difficult. These aspects seem less accentuated from the interviews I have seen. However, it is nice to know that students were not too worried about housing in the long list of troublesome events within the pandemic.

 Some of my tasks at the internship included helping move archival documents or furniture into a new storage room. A physical task was unexpected for me yet it seemed important to be able to move objects from one place to another in archiving. I did not expect it to be so difficult for me. It certainly has taught me that archival relocation takes longer than what I had thought. I am thankful that there was a dolly to move the cabinets to a new room as my arms would have collapsed. While humorous, the physical task of moving has also taught me the tendency of moving collections to different places. The new room that we were assigned to move the equipment to was only given within the last year which the Special Collections and University Archives seemingly did not have. It makes me wonder if digitization will have that same troubles of requiring physical space for collections.