Hi everyone! My name is Marcella (she/her/hers) and I am a junior History major with minors in Medieval and Renaissance Studies and Creative Writing. I am currently at home with my family in Pierre, South Dakota. My main historical focus during my time at Carleton has been on medieval Europe as well as ancient Greece and Rome. After taking Historians for Hire last term though and working with the MSAB, I have been discovering a newfound interest and passion for public history. I am excited to continue contributing meaningfully to the field of history this term albeit in a different way than I initial thought.
We are undeniably living through a very historic time right now and I know I have struggled with feeling helpless. It’s a very “the world is ending and I am folding laundry” type feeling. My hope for this course is to be able to help in some small way even if it is just to make sure that what is happening right now won’t be forgotten and to ensure there is a wide array of voices being saved for future historians. I have learned a lot about archives in my other history classes and I’m excited to actually be a part of making one.
My main focus for this class will be on the experiences of college students, particularly Carls, during this time. (Possibly on the experiences of professors as well.) Even among our rather small community, I have seen such a diverse array of experiences in the last month. There are people struggling with everything from sick family members to financial struggles to problems with internet connection. How our worlds are being turned upside down due to this pandemic is important to save for posterity and I’m glad to have a part in doing so. I have also been deeply impressed watching students and faculty band together to support one another and stay connected. These efforts are just as, if not even more, important to record and save.
If time permits I hope to have a secondary focus on my state and how it has dealt with this crisis. As a very rural state with an extremely small population, South Dakota has not been very hard hit by this pandemic thus far. This has unfortunately fostered a false sense of safety which has made us very slow to take concrete preventative measures. At this point we are one of the few states left with no stay at home or shelter in place orders. I want to record what is happening here on both a government and personal level.
Hi Marcella! This sounds like a really cool, important project. I think it would be fascinating to look at contrasts between the experiences of people in rural versus urban environments at this time. I have been talking with Carleton friends across the country, and those who live in more rural midwestern areas are describing a world so different from my current reality on the urban, densely populated East coast.