Updated April 19, 2021.

We are living through an extraordinary moment in world history. The COVID-19 pandemic and the measures to mitigate it have affected most aspects of our lives, from the mundane to the exceptional. Galter Library is gathering materials to archive the experiences of the Feinberg School of Medicine community during this unusual time, and we invite you to contribute to this collection by sharing your thoughts, observations, and creative works related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

We encourage everyone to participate in this project. While news stories, reports, and other formal documents will record the civic and institutional responses to the pandemic, it is your day-to-day accounts and personal experiences that will chronicle what life was really like during the pandemic. Everyone’s perspective is important. Please share with your colleagues so we can preserve stories from across Feinberg. The form will be available at least through the end of 2021, so you can submit now or later. we encourage you to contribute as many times as you wish.

EMAIL YOUR SUBMISSION TO: ghsl-specialcollections@northwestern.edu.

Your submission will become part of the COVID-19 Archive at Galter Library. In the near future, we will organize the collection and create a finding aid so users can discover and consult items in the collection. Consented materials may be used in teaching, research, and exhibitions, or shared online in DigitalHub, our institutional repository.

Just as many people are now looking back to personal narratives and events surrounding the 1918 flu pandemic, so too will current and future generations seek out this collection to learn how the COVID-19 pandemic affected our lives. Your participation will help us capture, preserve, and share the heritage of Feinberg School of Medicine and its students, faculty, and staff.

For more information about the project and ideas for what you can contribute, visit the COVID-19 Archive GalterGuide.

Please direct any questions or concerns to Katie Lattal, Special Collections Librarian, at katherine.lattal@northwestern.edu.

If you would like to share research output related to COVID-19, please consider uploading it to DigitalHub, our institutional repository, and the Chicago COVID-19 Response Community on Zenodo.

(left) Red Cross nurse, 1918. Courtesy of the National Library of Medicine: http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101580385.

(second to left) Peter Vila, MD, MSPH. Instructor (Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery), Feinberg School of Medicine; Fellow in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, McGaw Medical Center. Courtesy of Peter Vila.

(far right) Lauren Bularzik, PT, DPT. Inpatient Physical Therapist, Marianjoy Rehabilitation Hospital, part of Northwestern Medicine. Courtesy of Lauren Bularzik.