Open Letter: What are your major pandemic challenges?

Dear SAH Data Project constituents,

The SAH Data Project has started circulating a very short five-minute “snapshot” questionnaire that invites anyone who works or studies in the field of architectural history to share how the pandemic is impacting them right now. What have been your major pandemic challenges? What kinds of assistance would help you overcome those challenges? What kinds of meaningful support have you already received? You do not have to be in the United States to complete this questionnaire and you do not have to be an academic, either. It is also open to the many people around the world who do unpaid architectural history-focused work, like volunteer historic site stewards and docents.

We hope asking you directly how you are doing and what you need will be a welcome break from the care-work that so many of us are engaged in at the moment across our personal and professional lives. If you find this questionnaire cathartic or think it could be for others, we would really appreciate you encouraging friends and colleagues to have a look.

Here are a two URLs to use and share:

• Snapshot Questionnaire: Your COVID-19 Pandemic Experience
• An update on the SAH Data Project that offers a longer explanation of the ways the pandemic has impacted the project so far and how the snapshot questionnaire fits into our revised project plan.

On behalf of the SAH Data Project team I would like to thank you for taking the time to read this and for your continued interest during this extraordinarily difficult period. We wish you and your loved ones well.

Sincerely,

Sarah M. Dreller, PhD
Postdoctoral Researcher in the Humanities
Society of Architectural Historians