COVID Project

UPIKE Special Collections and Archives

The University of Pikeville’s Special Collections and Archives strives to collect, preserve, and make available research items about the history and culture of the University of Pikeville, Eastern Kentucky, and the surrounding counties greater Appalachian region. We hope to be the voice for those who have been overlooked and misunderstood for generations.

What is the COVID Project?

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented changes to UPIKE and the surrounding community. Although the coronavirus was slow to reach the university, our administration began acting immediately to protect our students and the campus community. Classes transitioned quickly from lecture to online and large gatherings, including commencement, were postponed or reconfigured to an online environment. Restaurants in the community started closing their dining rooms, businesses began providing pick-up services and online shopping increased ten-fold.

UPIKE and the surrounding community has survived and thrived through many obstacles, some of which have been recorded in our Archives while others have been lost to time. This project is our attempt to capture the challenges and document the impact that this pandemic has had on our community. It is our opportunity to make sure this experience lives on in the University Archives in our own words.

What can I contribute?

• Photographs that reflect your experience (signs across campus or the surrounding community, what you did to cope with quarantine anxiety -knitting, sewing, reading, gardening, etc.)
• Personal writings that reflect your experience, what the pandemic revealed about you or society, and how your normal work day or socializing routine was impacted by the changes (journal/diary, letter, short story, essay, poetry)
• Notifications from campus or local businesses about new policies
• Video, audio, or written documentation of peculiar experiences or sights that are rooted in facing COVID-19
• Reflections on what the pandemic revealed about you, society or the university
• URLs to content you created online including social media posts, blogs or photo albums of your experience       
• Physical material (artwork, journal, masks/sewing projects) which represent your experience

*The donation of physical materials will require additional contact from the University Archivist. Use the email archives@upike.edu to find out more information about donating physical material. *

Some questions to consider are:

• What did you do to stay positive?
• What were your trips to the grocery store like? Did you struggle to find any necessary items?
• Have your daily habits had to change?
• What challenges have you faced working (or continuing your course load) from home?

How can I contribute?

Fill out the form below and attach your digital content by uploading your file. Should you have any questions or concerns, want to contribute a non-digital work or video file, or choose to make your donation anonymous, email Elisha Taylor at archives@upike.edu with your request.

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Submission Gallery

To view the COVID Collection please click on the button below.