Crisis and Resilience: Hobokenites Recount the COVID-19 Pandemic

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The 16 oral history interviews provided here were conducted by the Hoboken Public Library to document how the residents of the City of Hoboken and the city itself responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are grateful to the residents of every walk of life who agreed to be included in the project.

The COVID-19 pandemic spread rapidly throughout the world in early 2020, arriving in the square-mile city of Hoboken, New Jersey that March. All of Hoboken's residents responded in unique ways. As virtually every aspect of life was affected, residents adopted new ways of working, attending school, and socializing, not to mention attending to their physical and mental health as well as they could.

By early summer 2022, the pandemic had subsided enough for interviews to be safely conducted in person. These recordings were done by staff of the Hoboken Public Library; the project was funded by a grant from the American Library Association and National Endowment for the Humanities as part of the two organizations' American Rescue Plan program. The goal of the project was to produce a broader record of Hoboken residents' experience with the pandemic and include populations traditionally left out, including residents experiencing homelessness, disabled residents, students, and residents for whom English is not a first language.

Credits

Hoboken Public Library