Documenting COVID-19 in Missoula County: A Community Archive Project

About the Missoula County COVID-19 Documentation Project

 Photograph of Rudy Autio's cast bronze statue "Grizz" wearing a maroon mask with the University of Montana logo. Photograph by UM Photographer Tommy Martino.

We are living in a truly historic time; how we react and respond - as individuals and as a community - will be of interest next year, 10 years from now and 100 years from now. We know that the best way to ensure this content is available in the future is to gather it proactively right now.

The purpose of Documenting COVID-19 in Missoula County: A Community Archive Project is to encourage agencies, organizations and individuals from across Missoula County to save and contribute documentation about their experiences during the coronavirus pandemic, and to provide a mechanism for this documentation to be maintained and shared as a community archive.

We are interested in collecting a wide variety of content representing a diversity of experiences and reactions from across the county. We hope that individuals will contribute their photos, videos, poems, personal stories and other content. We hope that government agencies, for-profit and non-profit organizations, community groups and others will share information about how they prepared for and responded to the pandemic in Missoula County.

The project team currently includes representatives from Missoula County government, Missoula City government, the Historical Museum at Fort Missoula, the University of Montana, the Downtown Missoula Partnership's "Heritage Missoula Program" and private Missoula businesses. We welcome additional participants.