KENNESAW, Ga. | Mar 16, 2021

Stories and photographs from the KSU community about the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

One year ago this month, the lives of the entire KSU community changed rapidly as the university was forced to close its doors due to COVID-19. In April 2020, the KSU Archives and Special Collections began collecting stories of how our University community was experiencing the pandemic. Students, faculty and staff submitted personal narratives, photographs, video, and classwork over the following month documenting their own experiences in the early days of the virus.

As we reflect on one year of the pandemic, the Archives is now making those contributions available to the public in SOAR as the KSU and COVID-19 collections.

The collected personal narratives and photographs submitted to our documentation project are now available as Documenting COVID-19 and the KSU Community. Individuals contributed stories about social distancing, learning and working from home, balancing family life with work and school, observing milestones in quarantine, the impact of the pandemic on physical and mental health, the intersection of the virus with current events, and more. 

Several of our KSU faculty incorporated student reflections on the pandemic into their curriculum. Responses from ENGL 1102 students on how our use of words like "lockdown," "masks," and "social distancing" have changed during the pandemic, as well as reflections on class readings in the context of current events by British Literature students, were contributed by Dr. Mary Behrman. See The Role of Words in the Age of Coronavirus and The Power of Poetry for their contributions.

Finally, graphic design students from Donna Colebeck’s ART 1100 students designed representations of the virus as 2D art inspired by the Orphism movement. Their artwork and artist statements are available as Orphism and Coronavirus-inspired Designs.

Want to contribute to this project, or contribute again? The Archives is continuing its efforts to collect stories and reflections on the COVID-19 pandemic. Go to Documenting COVID-19 and the KSU Community: 2021 to submit your contribution.