COVID-19 was a global pandemic that altered many aspects of American life. From January 2020 to August 2024, over 1,100,000 Americans died from the disease. Quarantine measures, enacted to avoid the spread of COVID-19, altered the way Americans worked and lived. Many social activities—including school and faith-based gatherings—moved online. Even at this writing, COVID-19 continues to impact many Americans’ everyday experiences.

The United States Congress mandated the COVID-19 American History Project in 2023 as an initiative of the American Folklife Center to document, preserve, and make available, stories of Americans’ experiences with the pandemic and the significant shifts it caused. From 2023 to 2024, the American Folklife Center contracted researchers to conduct oral history interviews with workers on the front lines of COVID-19. Researchers interviewed a range of workers, including funeral home owners, hospitality professionals, and educators. These workers’ stories detail the changes they experienced in their personal and professional lives. Workers speak about the loss of family and friends, the hardships they endured, and moments of resilience, when they sought to make the best of uncertain times. The interviews also detail how frontline workers experienced the pandemic differently, based on their geographic location and chosen professions. Taken together, these stories serve as a snapshot of what it was like to live and work in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This project is authorized by the COVID-19 American History Project Act, a bill authored by Representative Julia Letlow of the 5th District of Louisiana. The 2023 Legislative Branch Appropriations Bill (H.R. 117-389) directs the American Folklife Center to “collect, preserve, and make available to the public an archive of submitted oral stories of those who were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, survivors of loved ones who lost their lives to the disease, and frontline healthcare workers who tirelessly worked to eradicate this virus.”

These COVID-19 American History Project collections are currently online:

It Takes a Village: Rural Central Appalachian Childcare Providers' COVID-19 Experiences: This collection consists of 25 interviews with childcare providers who were working in one of five Appalachian states—Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and/or West Virginia—during the pandemic. These workers experienced the difficult task of providing care and education for children while managing social distancing, periods of quarantine, and the risks of COVID-19 infection. Their interviews reveal COVID-19’s impact on the personal and professional lives of rural, female workers and observations about the pandemic’s effect on the social and intellectual development of children in Appalachia. Read more. (Go to It Takes a Village: Rural Central Appalachian Childcare Providers' COVID-19 Experiences items)

Pandemic Stories from New Orleans-Area Service and Hospitality Workers: This collection consists of 20 interviews with service and hospitality professionals, who were working in or near New Orleans, Louisiana during the pandemic. Many of these workers were, or continue to be, employed in the tourism industry, which was impacted by COVID-19 quarantine measures and decreased tourism revenue. These interviews detail the effects of COVID-19 on a working-class population in Southeastern Louisiana. Read more. (Go to Pandemic Stories from New Orleans-Area Service and Hospitality Workers items)

Reflections on the Covid-19 Pandemic from Last Responders: This collection consists of 19 interviews with funeral professionals—including embalmers, licensed funeral directors, cremationists, and funeral home owners—working across the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic from 2020 to 2023. These workers were the “last responders” as they dealt with the physical, biological, and spiritual care of those who died from the virus. Their interviews detail how funeral professionals attended to the deceased, provided comfort to family members, and took care of their staff members amidst a shifting context of uncertainty, contagion, and death. Their stories also detail the incredible creativity of funeral workers, as they transitioned their services to the digital environment, broadened their cultural competencies for new clients, and undertook new outreach efforts. Their experiences offer a vital perspective on an occupational group that was often overlooked, but essential, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more. (Go to Reflections on the Covid-19 Pandemic from Last Responders items)