MSUM COVID-19 Community History Project

I am a Member of the Moorhead Community (or 12 Country Region around Moorhead), Can I Participate? 

We are accepting individual experiences and oral history interviews for this project.  

Requirements for Individual Contributions:

• Affiliated with Minnesota State University Moorhead OR be a resident of one of the twelve counties covered by the Northwest Minnesota Historical Center (Becker, Clay, Kittson, Mahnomen, Marshall, Norman, Otter Tail, Pennington, Polk, Red Lake, Roseau, and Wilkin).
• Accompanied by a signed donor agreement.  See the Forms page.
• Be an approved format (digital) or size (physical items).  See Resources for Project page for specific details.

Do I need special equipment or software to participate?

No, you can use your personal devices (e.g. computer, phone) to record audio and video with the factory installed software. Zoom is a great university provided software tool that can record and automatically generate transcripts of your video interview.  Be sure to review the File Format Specifications on the How to Submit page.  If you have specific software or equipment questions, contact the archives@mnstate.edu

Do the Oral History interviews have to be conducted in English?

No. Interviews may be conducted in any language. We request that a translation of the interview is provided along with a transcription. 

Do the Oral History interviews have to be conducted in-Person?

No. Most interviews can be done via phone or by using programs like Zoom. If you do conduct an interview in-person, we ask that you follow Social Distancing Guidelines established by the CDC when conducting the interview. We do not expect you to travel to conduct these interviews. 

What about Privacy concerns?

We value and respect your right to privacy. 

The purpose of this project is to document self-experiences in the form of a community history project to help record our daily lived experiences during the COVID-19 Pandemic. To expand access and understanding about the COVID-19 Pandemic experience to current and future individuals, the University Archives will collect documentation and accept donations on the COVID-19 Pandemic experiences for inclusion in the Archives. These materials will be made available through our physical and digital collections. Archives staff will organize and describe the materials and make them available in acceptable forms and places at a later date.  

If you review our donor forms, you will see that you have some options you can select when you voluntarily participate in this project:

1. I would not like my Individual experience (or oral history) placed online
2. I would like my material restricted for 10 years from date of submission
3. You can use my material, but I’d like to remain anonymous

We want you to be comfortable in donating your materials, so if you have concerns about sharing your personal experiences or oral history interview, send us an email at archives@mnstate.edu