Affect and rapid response collecting: exploring the significance of emotion in UK archives’ COVID-19 collecting projects

Abstract

This article explores the affective connotations and emotive implications of archiving in extraordinary times. It examines how ‘rapid response collecting,’ the practice of documenting crises, upheavals, and tragedies during their unfolding or in their immediate aftermath, is felt through an affect-centric examination of COVID-19 collecting in the UK archives sector. An anonymous, online survey of archivists involved in documenting the pandemic was conducted — the first empirical study of archives workers’ experiences of rapid response collecting — to assess emotional reactions and perceptions of wellbeing whilst undertaking rapid response collecting initiatives. Emergent themes surfaced by analysing the qualitative and quantitative data related to the idiosyncrasy of emotive potentiality, the influence of support and training in mitigating adverse psychological effects, and the current lack of fully embedded trauma-informed approaches in rapid response collecting efforts. Whilst acknowledging the particularities of COVID-19 collecting and the small scale of the study, this research indicates that educators, scholars, and professional bodies need to do more to prepare practitioners for the role emotions can play in rapid response collecting. It ultimately contends that a trauma-informed approach is essential if we are to protect the psychological safety of all in future rapid response collecting endeavours.