LSE COVID-19 archive collection

LSE Library is leading an important project to document the LSE community’s experiences during the time of COVID, and we want to hear from you!

We want to capture how we’ve all worked, studied, lived and socialised since early 2020 and create an archive of material for the future. Our archives and special collections are an important source of information, and your contribution could help researchers of the future understand what life at LSE was like during the pandemic. By contributing, you'll be helping to build a shared memory and a future research resource. 

The project has two strands.

• Oral Histories – members of the LSE community will be invited to speak about their experiences at LSE during the COVID-19 pandemic. These oral histories will be preserved by the Library and made available.

• Community Submissions – members of the LSE community can submit multimedia material to our online archive. This material can be whatever they feel reflects their experiences of being at LSE during the pandemic, such as photographs or written testimonies.

We are seeking volunteers from the LSE community to speak about their experiences of being at LSE during the time of COVID. This would involve around 3 hours of your time; a meeting to chat more about what is involved, and then the interview itself. We expect to carry out the interviews over the Lent and Summer term 2022, and we are working with volunteer doctoral students from LSE International History who will be conducting some of the interviews. 

 
If you are a part of the LSE community, we want to hear from you! We are particularly interested in ensuring we capture as diverse a representation of the LSE community as possible, and will be interviewing students, professional and academic members of staff. We would welcome hearing from you if one of the following apply:

• You’re a member of a professional network such as Power, DAWN, Embrace, Spectrum, or the Parents and Carers Network.
• You kept our services running on campus during lockdown for example as a member of Cleaning Services or the Security Team.
• Students at all stages in their studies who may have been in London during lockdown or in another country.
• Early career researchers.
• Staff involved in hybrid teaching.
• People who worked or studied whilst also home schooling.
• People who were on furlough.

If you are interested in volunteering, please email us telling us a bit about your connection to LSE and your interest in volunteering (around 250 words) by Tuesday 1 February 2022. Whilst we might not be able to interview everyone that gets in touch, you can also submit written testimonies and other multimedia material in the second strand of the project (see below).

Submit content via our form

If you are unable to use the form, you should email us your entry along with the following information:

• Your name.
• Title for the item.
• The story behind the item.
• Location and date it was taken/recorded.

By submitting material you agree to our terms and conditions.

• Only LSE students, staff or LSE alumni should contribute and are free to submit multiple items.
• By participating, you agree to have your entry included in the LSE’s archive, website and other online platforms. We will credit the person who uploaded the entry.
• By submitting an item, you are granting the University a perpetual, royalty-free, non-exclusive licence to edit, publish, translate, modify, adapt, make available and distribute the entry throughout the world in any media now known or hereafter invented.
• You also confirm that anyone depicted in an entry has given their permission for the inclusion of their image in the entry and use of it by you and LSE.
• By submitting an image you are making a contribution to the LSE website. The LSE website's terms of use therefore apply.