Covid-19’s social significance as a public health crisis is unprecedented in living memory and a watershed in the longer history of the National Health Service (NHS). The ways in which we live, work, and think about our health have changed profoundly and the story is not over yet. We do not know how, or when Covid-19 will pan out, but we do know that we are all actors in an historic moment.

Historians, archivists and curators have a responsibility to document and preserve these socio-cultural transformations for future generations through collecting personal testimonies, objects and ephemera. History tells us that, as in the case of the Spanish Flu, collective memory can fade rapidly after health crises. The collecting process can play a vital part in helping individuals and communities to make meaning from their lived experiences as well as creating resources for now and in the future.

One year on from our first Covid-19 Conversation event which focused on the early responses from historians, archivists, and curators to collecting pandemic-related material, we reflect on what we have learnt about the benefits and challenges of working through this crisis period.

• What priorities and/or issues have informed collection strategies?

• To what extent will Covid-19 material be integrated with existing collections?

• How easy has it been for people, communities, and organisations to collaborate around collecting?

• What have been the upsides of collecting during crisis?

• What have been the challenges of collecting during crisis?• How can the material be used to shape and inform societal pandemic recovery?

• And what are the ethical considerations of collecting in crisis?Join our panel of speakers to discuss what we have learnt over the past year about collecting through Covid-19.

Speakers include:

Natasha McEnroe, Keeper of Medicine, Science Museum, London. Her previous post was Director of the Florence Nightingale Museum, and prior to this she was Museum Manager of the Grant Museum of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy and Curator of the Galton Collection at University College London. From 1997 – 2007, she was Curator of Dr Johnson’s House in London’s Fleet Street, and has also worked for the National Trust and the Victoria & Albert Museum. Natasha was editor of Medicine: An Imperfect Science (Scala, 2019), co-editor of The Medicine Cabinet (Carlton, 2019) and co-editor of The Hospital in the Oatfield – The Art of Nursing in the First World War (Strange Attractor, 2014). Her research interests focus on 19th-century public health and the history of nursing. She is a Trustee of Dr Johnson’s House in London and of the Erasmus Darwin Museum in Lichfield and is a Freeman of The Worshipful Company of Barbers. Natasha also sits on the National Accreditation Committee for Arts Council England.

Elizabeth Crooke, Professor of Heritage and Museum Studies, Ulster University and Principal Investigator of the UKRI-funded Museums, Crisis and Covid19: Vitality and Vulnerabilities project. Elizabeth's work explores what museums bring to society and how we engage with them. Her understanding has been developed with the sector, both as Chair of NI Museums Council, and through working with colleagues in museums on research, exhibition, and development projects.

Sam Jenkins, Collections Officer, Peoples History Museum, Manchester. A museum professional working in collections management. Sam has experience with registration, documentation, curation and collections care, and in volunteer management. Currently, Sam cares for the Designated collection of the People's History Museum and has worked for a variety of institutions, including National, independent, and organisations within the Arts Council National Portfolio.

Caylin Smith, Head of Digital Preservation for Cambridge University Library. Her work focuses on ensuring digital collection materials are preserved and can be accessed now and in the future. Along with the Keeper of the University Archives, Caylin established the Library’s Covid-19 Collection that includes materials about the pandemic in digital and physical formats created by members of the Collegiate University and the city of Cambridge. Caylin is also a Co-Investigator on the recently announced ‘The Archive of Tomorrow: Health Information and Misinformation in the UK Web Archive’ project. Led by the National Library of Scotland, and funded by the Wellcome Trust, this project will examine how websites and other online content relating to health are archived.

This series of events is part of a major public history programme – NHS Voices of Covid-19 – led by Professor Stephanie Snow and the NHS at 70 team at the University of Manchester and undertaken in partnership with the British Library. Supported by a grant from UK Research and Innovation, through the Arts and Humanities Research Council, we are developing a national collection of personal testimonies and in-depth reflections around Covid-19 that will be preserved as a permanent public resource for informing policy and practice and form part of a wider British Library Covid-19 collecting initiative.

Questions can be forwarded in advance to nhs70@manchester.ac.uk.

You will receive the link in a reminder email before the event on Tuesday 26 Ocotber 2021.

NHS voices of Covid-19 In conversation: Collecting through Covid-19