Telling Your Story: Documenting COVID-19 in South Dakota

The South Dakota State Historical Society has collected items documenting South Dakota's history since statehood in 1889. There are thousands of letters, diaries, scrapbooks, photographs, audio recordings, and films in our archives. These items allow us to hear the voices and see the people from our past who are living all the ranges of human experience and emotion. Through the items we collect, we can understand their joys and disappointments, as well as their achievements and failings.

We are in the midst of an historic moment as the world responds to COVID-19, and we need your help to document the pandemic here in South Dakota. We want to add your stories to the archives so that future generations can understand what this experience was like. How are you and your family understanding and experiencing the pandemic?

We are looking for:

• Writings
• Photos
• Drawings, Paintings, and Other Artwork
• Short Videos
• Audio Recordings
• Correspondence (such as emails or text message chains)
• Social Media Posts

We have set up an online submission form to make it easier to share your stories with us. Items submitted will be reviewed by our archivists and added to a special collection on the public response to the pandemic. Please take the time to read and respond to each of the fields in this form before uploading your item(s) for consideration. It is important that we have your permission to use and share the items you submit with future researchers, just as it is important that our archivists have a basic understanding of the object you are submitting.

UPLOAD YOUR RESOURCE HERE

Note: The online submission form requires you to log in to your Google account. If you do not have a Google account, and do not want to create one, email nicole.hosette@state.sd.us to arrange transfer of your item(s).

Future researchers and visitors to the South Dakota State Archives will have you to thank for sharing a part of your lives with them as they work to understand our current lived experience.

We've also created an infographic to help businesses and government agencies know which COVID-19 related records they should preserve. Click here to check it out!