Nikki Brueggeman is a writer, historian, and consultant who was raised in Walla Walla, Washington. She attended Washington State University where she received degrees in history and Asian studies in 2013. From 2015 to 2017, she taught English in South Korea as a Fulbright grantee. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ms. Brueggeman became interested in preserving the stories of people from a wide variety of backgrounds about their experiences and began The #DocumentingCOVID 19 Oral History Project. Through her project, Ms. Brueggeman explores the experiences of friends, family, and acquaintances during the COVID-19 pandemic with a focus on the west coast of the United States. She would like to acknowledge the mentorship, advice, and support of Dr. Mapuana Antonio, Dr. Emily Anderson, Remijio Mendoza, Rebecca Brothers, Greta Starrett, and Kwapi Vengesayi.
The #DocumentingCOVID19 Oral History Project contains 34 interviews with individuals from Washington, Oregon, California, North Carolina, New Jersey, Nevada, New York, and an American living in New Zealand regarding the impact of COVID-19. The project initially focused on documenting the experience of BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities, as well as individuals with disabilities during the first six months of the pandemic. It then expanded to capture the experiences of Washington State University (WSU) students, a recent graduate, staff, faculty, and Pullman Mayor Glenn Johnson regarding the impact of COVID-19 on their personal and academic lives, as well as on the functioning of city government. The collection includes transcripts of the interviews. Interviews took place at the height of the pandemic when many were living under stay at home orders and WSU was operating virtually, as well as at the end of 2021, when most services had resumed in person. All files are digital.
Interviews are arranged alphabetically.
Mp3 and PDF files were created from the original wav and docx files and are available
This collection is open and available for research use.
Copyright restrictions apply. Release letters were signed and copyright resides with Washington State University Libraries.
[Item description]
The #DocumentingCOVID19 Oral History Project, 2020-2021 (Cage 946)
Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman, WA.
Nikki Brueggeman donated this collection to the Washington State University Libraries between 2020-2022 (MS.2020.32, MS.2021.15, MS.2022.04).
The repository expects to receive additions to this collection.
Gayle O’Hara processed this collection in 2021 and 2022.Jean Baker assisted with processing in 2022. Audio files were received as wav files. Mp3 files were created from wav files using Audacity for online access. Transcripts were received as docx files and converted to PDF format for online access.
The Donna Casebolt interview was conducted by email; there is no audio file for this interview.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.
Discusses first hearing about, adapting to, and becoming a father during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic; also discusses explaining the pandemic to his older child and how the family has been coping with social distancing measures.
Location: Camas, Washington. Includes transcript. Discusses being a junior and in Cougar Marching Band when WSU transitioned to online classes in March 2020; the impact of the pandemic on her work, academic and personal life; staying connected to friends through social media.
Email interview where she discusses viewing the pandemic through her religious world view (Seventh Day Adventist), experiencing COVID-19 as a senior citizen, and advice for future generations.
Discusses her experience as a 66 year old, low vision individual with high risk medical issues during the initial stages of the pandemic. She also discusses being unable to perform a great deal of her work from home, the impact of isolation on her mental health, and the benefits of her virtual participation in church and with the United Blind of Walla Walla.
Discusses her initial thoughts about hearing about the pandemic and social distancing; how she and her family managed the stay at home order in California, how COVID-19 has impacted on her work for a travel magazine, and explaining the pandemic to her three and five year old daughters.
Discusses life in Walla Walla, Washington as a senior citizen during the initial stages of the pandemic, transitioning to online music teaching, the financial impact of the pandemic, and being a member of the Seventh Day Adventist Church.
Location: Kent, Washington. Discusses the change to remote learning, being president of the International Student Council, staying connected to people via social media, and dealing with anti-Chinese bias in the United States during the pandemic.
Discusses county, hospital, and federal responses to Covid-19. She also discusses the impact of Covid-19 on hospital use and management, adaptations of her work and general life style, and the consumerist ecconomy.
Discusses being laid off as a research technician and moving to directing a small company's research and development program during the pandemic. He describes his reactions to New York's large covid spike, his own proper mask use, and encorages people to listen to those who dedicate their lives to being experts on specific matters.
Location: Pullman, Washington. Includes transcript. Discusses impact of COVID-19 on WSU sports, the NCAA, and supporting both international and domestic student athletes. Details how WSU resumed practice with safety guidelines and how the campus and town changed as a result of the pandemic.
Discusses being a social worker and manager during the pandemic, shopping for his mother and her friends, and the reactions of different socio-ecconomic communities in the Bay Area to the pandemic. He also discusses the difficulty getting reliable information from the federal government and working at a COVID-19 test site.
Discusses working remotely, changes at home and in stores due to the pandemic, being close to the first COVID cases in the United States, bonding with his cat, George Floyd's murder and Black Lives Matter, the CHOP/CHAZ in Seattle, what it is like to live as a Black man in the United States, and his concerns for the Black community during the pandemic.
Location: Pullman, Washington. Discusses what makes Pullman and WSU so special, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on city government and the Pullman community, and the politicization of the virus.
Discusses adjusting to COVID protocols, how her management changed once employees started working remotely, converstations with her son about safety given violence against Black males, the continuous effects of slavery, and on testing negative for COVID months after her initial symptoms.
Discusses maintaining her polyamarous relationships during lockdown, the impact of lockdown on her wife's business, the impact of Pride and other events being canceled, the chaos of her school closing due to COVID, creating an equitable curriculum for remote learning, trying to do all of a teacher's job from home, and considering hot to plan for teaching in the coming year.
Location: Pullman, Washington. Includes transcript. Discusses life on campus and in Pullman prior to and during the pandemic; the challenges of moving to both virtual learning and virtual teaching, as well as taking preliminary exams in a virtual environment; the impact of social isolation on self, fellow graduate students and the undergraduate students she is teaching.
Location: Pullman, Washington. Discusses how the College of Veterinary Medicine and the veterinary teaching hospital stayed open through closures due to COVID 19, coordinating services, managing staff, the impact on students, and what he learned over the course of 2020-2021.
Discusses having students from Wuhan, China and Kirkland, Washington, the increased visability of police violence, watching protests unfold in Capitol Hill, being Jewish in Seattle, and the emotional labor involved in teaching.
Discusses being a hair stylist and filing for unemployment during the pandemic. She also discusses being a single mother to three children, at home schooling, talking with her kids and getting to know them on another level, and prioritizing mental health.
Discusses pet owners, her own ability to keep working and begin to pay down the principle of her student loans, having to be conservative with supplies at work due to the pandemc, and not being able to provide as much comfort to pet owners due to COVID protocols.
Location: Pullman, Washington. Discusses the impact of COVID-19 on study abroad, including bringing students home at the start of the pandemic, financial issues, working virtually, and how study abroad is functioning in 2021 and going forward.
Discusses being blind, keeping her immune system strong, taking precautions while being at risk as a senior with pre-existing conditions during the pandemic, and contracting the H2N2 flu when it was pandemic in 1957.
Discusses being a senior citizen during the pandemic, Social Security, his COVID precautions, living with the immune copromised, and the state of teaching before and during the pandemic.
Location: Pullman, Washington. Discusses the impact of COVID 19 from the perspective of an infectious disease expert, difficulties obtaining necessary safety equipment for medical personnel in the United States and abroad, WSU's role in responding to and managing the virus, resistance to public health guidelines, and how to talk to individuals who are resistent to vaccines.
Discusses stocking up on supplies, life in Oakland during the pandemic, being sick at the beginning of the pandemic, the transition to virtual schooling and the impact on the curriculum and student development, and the concern for the social aspect of school due to the pandemic.
Discusses job prospects as one who lives with a disability, and speculates on future job prospects. She also discusses driving to parks and activites people do there, what reopening and shutting down could look like as the pandemic continues, and the role of government.
Location: Pullman, Washington. Discusses the initial impact of COVID 19, participating as an artist in the Black Lives Matter and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women movements, painting murals, visiting family on the Yakima reservation and the impact of the virus on Indigenous communities, and transitioning back to the WSU campus in August 2020.
Location: Moscow, Idaho. Includes transcript. Discusses when she first heard of COVID-19 and recognizing the tremendous impact on students, especially those who lost jobs, were essential workers, had health issues, and/or had childcare issues; seeing the disparities in experiences and trying to provide support to students during the crisis. Provides a historian’s perspective on pandemics and what we can learn from them.
Location: Vancouver, Washington. Discusses starting WSU in fall of 2020 and the impact of the pandemic, especially as a musician and teaching assistant; COVID 19 social and academic adaptations with ongoing value; navigating the world as a trans person; and concerns about the impact of the pandemic on the trans community, as well as concerns about discrimination and increasing violence against trans people.
Discusses obtaining unemployment during the pandemic, how Cheney, Washington and its school district have handled the pandemic, teaching her children at home, and changes to their routine.
Location: Colfax, Washington. Includes transcript. Discusses the March 2020 transition to online classes due to the pandemic, participating in virtual graduation, and looking for work during the pandemic. Addresses plans for life after graduation being put on hold during the pandemic and trying to stay connected to others.
Discusses different government approaches to the pandemic, having a structured routine, plans being cancelled, and working from home.
Discusses witnessing panic responses and hoarding at the start of the pandemic, quarantine, living near the protests following the murder of George Floyd, working from home, and job insecurity.
Discusses her 50th birthday, the start of the lock down in New Zealand and her household situation, getting informed updates from her government, her mother in Michigan, consulting remotely, and the impact of lockdown on mothers and families.