Quarantine measures, widespread shutdowns, and barriers to travel have made the past year unlike any in memory. For UNC History gradruate students, the coronavirus has created particular challenges. As four graduate students report, conducting dissertation research under these conditions presents unprecedented obstacles. Collectively, their stories demonstrate impressive determination and resilience.
Kevin Hoeper, Sarah Miles, and Steven Weber all traveled abroad for funded research terms in the summer of 2019. For the first few months in the archives, they worked without much disruption. Hoeper, living in Prague, split his time between the central national and military archives in the Czech capital and nearly thirty provincial archives spread throughout the country. Besides long days that involved multiple transfers between buses and trains, he encountered relatively few challenges gaining access to his materials. Miles and Weber, meanwhile, dove into various collections in and around Paris. In December 2019, massive strikes by French railway workers inhibited their work, as archive employees from around the many quarters and suburbs of the capital city struggled to get to work and the archives operated on limited, unpredictable schedules. When the railways returned to normal in January, Miles and Weber resumed their research in earnest. None expected the difficulties the spring would bring.
Across the Atlantic, Nathan Gil launched into his research in Quito, Ecuador, where he planned to live from January 2020 through Summer 2021. During the first few weeks of January, Gil scanned documents from the hacienda at the center of his environmental history project. Augmenting material he had previously gathered, he was well on his way to amassing a formidable assemblage of documents. Soon, however, his news feed overflowed with stories of a rapidly spreading, little-understood virus. The world was about to change.
Following her original plan, Miles left France for Montreal in February, evading the chaos on one continent only to face shutdowns in Canada. Hoeper and Weber cancelled return flights scheduled for late summer and scrambled to book seats on the last international flights out of Europe, ever mindful of the risk of exposure. With tracing programs just starting and reports of sick patients also planning return trips to the US, neither knew whether they might contract the illness. As a result, both quarantined for several weeks upon their return, Hoeper in an RV in his parents’ driveway and Weber in an Airbnb near family members. While financial assistance from UNC earmarked to mitigate the unexpected costs linked to COVID-19 partially offset these financial burdens, all three lost precious time in the archives and plan to go back when safe travel becomes possible.
Gil, by contrast, decided not to cancel his time abroad. While several of his colleagues left the region, Gil knew that he could quarantine and maintain steady progress on his project. Thus, he wrote persistent letters to UNC and government representatives assuring them of his ability to quarantine safely while continuing his work. Gil convinced these overseers of researchers’ safety and remains sorting through the hundreds of digitized documents he previously collected. When archives open again, Gil will be ready to add new material to his project.
Back in Chapel Hill, Hoeper, Miles, and Weber continue to move forward with their dissertations and professional careers. During his weeks isolated in the RV, Hoeper drafted a thesis chapter, which he recently presented at a (virtual) Central European history working group. He hopes to submit it to a journal in the coming months. All three continue to monitor grant sources as they look to finish the last portions of their archival research in the near future.
The determination these four graduate students displayed in the face of adversity, as well as the achievements of their colleagues throughout the department, reveal the determination that powers the UNC history department in its commitment to advancing historical scholarship. Each scholar emphasizes that without additional support from the university, they would not have been able to make the progress they did. In these difficult times, alumni and donor support is more important than ever for securing current and future students’ ability to conduct groundbreaking archival research.