Reflections on Social (In) Justice: A Digital Collection

Invitation to Participate

If you are a member of the Allegheny community (students, faculty, staff, and alumni), the Allegheny College Archives invites you to share your personal reflections about social (in)justice in light of the inequities revealed by the impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic, recent acts of racial violence, and the related protests by submitting creative works for the College’s digital collections. Individuals telling their stories is part of our entire community being seen, heard, and valued and is part of our joint commitment  to creating an inclusive, respectful and safe residential learning community that actively confronts and challenges injustice. This project intends to help us share our stories as a way to build understanding, strengthen our community, foster human connection, and preserve personal accounts of these troubling events for future generations and scholarly research.

Types of Documentation Sought

We are seeking your creative works in whatever digital form best conveys your experiences and expresses your thoughts and feelings during this period of social unrest.
Submission types include:

  • journal entries
  • personal essays
  • poems
  • photographs
  • music
  • videos (or links to videos)
  • social media post links
  • blog links

Please note that we cannot add submissions to our digital collection if you do not own the rights. We reserve the right to exclude material that reveals personal health information covered under HIPAA.

Submission Information

The archives welcomes submissions of materials from students, faculty, staff and alumni that reflect your thoughts and experiences during the recent acts of racial violence, and the related protests. We plan to create a digital collection to preserve this material. Please use this form to submit your essays, poems, photographs, videos etc., to share your reactions and feelings about the life-changing events of recent weeks. Tell us how these historic events in this turbulent time have impacted your life. We will accept your creative reflections at least through 2020. If you have any questions, please contact Ruth Andel, Archivist (merrick@allegheny.edu) or Beau Smith, Digital Resources Librarian (bmith3@allegheny.edu).
Digital Submissions Terms and Conditions
You are being asked to contribute your recollections, photographic images, video, social media postings or other digital content to Allegheny College, which is creating a digital record of Allegheny community member experiences during the current period of social protest, unrest and change of 2020.

You may only submit material created entirely by you and not copied from or based, in whole or in part, upon any other photographic, literary, or other material, except to the extent that such material is in the public domain, you have permission of the copyright owner, or its use is allowed by “Fair Use” as prescribed by the terms of United States copyright law.

You must be 18 years of age or older to submit material. By submitting content through this form, you are granting Allegheny College permission to disseminate, preserve, and use that content in connection with its educational and research mission, including promotional purposes, in all media in perpetuity. If you indicate on the form that your submission is “public,” your material may be published on the web (with or without your name, depending on what you have indicated) as part of Allegheny College digital collections or exhibits. You retain ownership of and copyright in the material you share.

Submitted material must not violate any confidentiality, privacy, security or other laws. Please be aware that all submissions and any information associated with the submissions (email address, descriptive information, etc.) may be provided to federal, state, or local law enforcement or other government agencies pursuant to a lawful subpoena or otherwise as required by law.

Allegheny College is not obligated to include your content in this project or preserve it in perpetuity. We reserve the right to exclude material that reveals personal health information covered under HIPAA. Decisions to decline submissions will adhere to the guidelines of the Merrick Archives Collection Development Policy