The York Covid-19 Archive

In response to these unprecedented times, a new project has begun to collect the records of York’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Borthwick Institute for Archives holds documents detailing more than 800 years of York’s history. Now, we want to create a new archive of York’s experiences of the 2020 pandemic by collecting your records. These could be journal or diary entries; poetry or prose; photographs; short films; sound recordings. We can accept digital and physical records, and we would like to hear from as many people as possible: young and old; doctors; nurses; teachers; social workers; business owners; retail workers; school students; retirees.

COVID-19 has changed the world but York is in a unique position as the first city in the country to have confirmed coronavirus cases. We have all been living alongside this disease for several months. By collecting your records, we can create a lasting collective memory of York’s coronavirus outbreak which will be an important resource for researchers in the years and decades to come.

There’s further guidance for potential depositors available here (PDF , 58kb) but if you have any questions, or would like to find out more about the project, please contact us at covid19archive@york.ac.uk