The COVID-19 pandemic is, simply put, a once-in-a-lifetime event. While there have been public sector and academic efforts to document this historic moment in terms of the disease’s effects on health or communities, there has not been a concerted effort thus far to record the unique experiences of the corporate sector. The COVID-19 Corporate Memory Project does just that.
This pro bono effort from History Factory captures, documents and preserves how corporations are affected by and responding to the crisis. It adds to the broader vision of society’s response to the pandemic through the lens of corporate America.
Curated COVID-19 Content
The project draws upon research, conducted by our talented curatorial team, that has been organized into several collections.
The Changing Nature of Work explores how companies are adapting to the shifts in our workdays necessitated by the coronavirus, from unemployment to digital and remote work. It looks at how businesses have been affected and how some have changed their business model to adapt to our new reality.
Business on the Front Lines examines the responses of businesses in industries working directly to address the public health crisis, including health care, medical supply and pharmaceutical companies, plus those that have retooled production lines to manufacture vital medical and PPE supplies.
Leading in a Crisis looks at business leaders’ responses to COVID-19, and how they have pointed the way forward for their organizations during this challenging time.
Service and Community is predicated on the idea that we’re all in this together. The Project delves into how companies are serving their communities in a variety of ways: larger corporations helping small businesses, prioritizing public health over profits, reaching out to nonprofits, and helping frontline essential workers in need.
Site visitors can also search by industry, view major events on the COVID-19 timeline, and see History by the Numbers, with important public health and economic stats updated on a daily basis.
A Crowdsourced Effort
While History Factory is proud to set the wheels in motion, we need your contributions. We are seeking submissions of articles, videos, recordings and photos from your organization’s real-time response to COVID-19 so that we can fully capture its far-reaching effects.
With your help, the COVID-19 Corporate Memory Project will live on into the future as a valuable resource for academics and the coming generations of business leaders.
If you’re interested in how you might build upon what the Memory Project does for your own organization, check out History Factory’s Real-Time Capture Program.