Contribute to our region’s memory
Tyne & Wear Archives are documenting the experiences of ordinary people in Tyneside and Wearside during the Covid-19 pandemic
Would you be willing to add your voice and experiences to the historical memory of the current COVID-19 pandemic for future generations? Do you live or work in Newcastle, Sunderland, Gateshead, North or South Tyneside?
Tyne & Wear Archives is seeking participants to contribute to the documentation of this once-in-a-lifetime experience, by responding to a series of questions complied by the team.
Lizzy Baker, Archives Lead, said:
“Just like other archives and museums across the world, Tyne & Wear Archives is keen to document the experiences of ordinary people in Tyneside and Wearside during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“If you live (and/ or work) in these areas – that is, Newcastle, Sunderland, North Tyneside, South Tyneside and Gateshead - we would like to hear from you.
“It doesn’t matter who you are or what you do – we’d like to hear from people of any age, working, unemployed, retired or key workers and from all communities in our area. If you’ve got something to contribute, we’re interested.
“In years to come our records will be crucial to the future understanding and impact of the current health crisis people are going though.”
For more information see Tyne & Wear Archives website ‘Help us document Covid-19’ or access the questions directly here.
The questions are simple and only a few sentences are required for each one. They will cover themes such as ‘How have you coped with any changes to your working life?’ or ‘has anything surprised you about life with Covid-19?’ More questions will be asked of participants over the coming weeks and months. Participants are not obliged to answer all questions.
Tyne & Wear Archives is home to thousands of documents, housed on 14km of shelving, relating to the five local districts of Newcastle, Sunderland, Gateshead, North Tyneside and South Tyneside.
The documents range from the 12th to 21st centuries and include building plans, school, hospital and church records as well as business records, especially those of important local industries such as shipbuilding, engineering and mining.
The Tyne & Wear shipyards collection is of international significance as it is included on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register, which includes documents such as the Magna Carta and Domesday Book.
