Documenting the COVID-19 Pandemic in Missouri

The State Historical Society of Missouri (SHSMO) invites you to share your pandemic experience with us. We are looking for materials that document your experience in self-isolation/quarantine, working essential jobs, working from home, homeschooling, and your personal medical experiences during this time. How has your life changed during the pandemic?  

Submissions can be in the following forms:

• Writings (journal and diary entries, reflective essays, emails, letters, etc.)
• Responses to writing prompts
• Photos, images, and memes
• Audio (oral histories, voice memos, etc.)
• Videos
• Artwork
• Any other materials that document your experience.

If you have any questions about making a submission or about something you have already submitted, please send an email to research@shsmo.org.

Writing Prompts

We have developed some writing prompts for you to use, though you are not required to use these. They are provided as a tool to help you get started.

• When did you first hear about COVID-19?
• Where do you primarily get your information about local, state, national, and global events? Newspaper, television, internet, social media? Be specific.
• Have you or anyone you know been directly impacted by COVID-19? (i.e. healthcare worker, first responder, grocery store/food service/package delivery/other essential employee, quarantined for symptoms, hospitalized)
• How have/did your day-to-day activities change(d) due to illness, stay-at-home orders, work from home, school/daycare closure?
• Have you or someone you know been furloughed/lost your (their) job due to economic conditions brought on by COVID-19?
• Have your opinions of COVID-19 changed over the course of the pandemic?
• How do you feel about the response of government officials (local, state, federal) to address issues connected with COVID-19?
• What observations have you noticed in your community during the pandemic?
• How has life changed for you, including the positive and negative?
• What were your fears and hopes in looking to the future post-pandemic?
• How has your life changed as the result of the pandemic?

Submit Physical Materials

If you have physical materials to contribute, hard copies may be sent (along with to: