Interview with Abigail Cowan
IntervieweeInterview with
Abbie Cowan
InterviewerInterviewed by
Peter Moran
Date2022 August 10
Mediumborn digital audio file
DimensionsDuration: 1 Hour, 11 Minutes, 12 Seconds
ClassificationsInformation Artifacts
Credit LineCommunity History Project Collection
Description(a) Interview with Abigail Cowan. Interviewed by Peter Moran on August 10, 2022 at the Connecticut Historical Society, One Elizabeth Street, Hartford. (b) Photograph of Abbie Cowan provided at her interview. She was interviewed as part of the Connecticut Historical Society's Community History Project discussing her experience during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Abigail Cowan is an interviewer for the Community History Project at the Connecticut Historical Society. She is from Torrington, Connecticut. The first major disruption to her life due to COVID-19 was her schooling. Ms. Cowan discusses the challenges of doing remote learning during her senior year at community college. She talks about how it was a difficult transition from graduating community college and not being able to physically be on campus when she transferred to Central Connecticut State University, highlighting topics such as isolation and loss of social life. However, Ms. Cowan did not think remote learning was all bad, as she enjoyed being able to work on her own time and having more academic freedom, in a sense.
Ms. Cowan talks about how she contracted COVID-19 in January 2021, and the symptoms that coincided with it. She lost her sense of taste and smell, and at the time of the interview, was still struggling to get those senses fully back to pre-pandemic levels. Her mother and father also contracted COVID-19 during the same time and experienced similar symptoms. During this time, she rediscovered hobbies she enjoyed years prior, and believes the pandemic helped her find herself again. Ms. Cowan decided not to pursue a career in education, and instead found her calling in the public history sphere.
Ms. Cowan ends her interview by discussing her thoughts about being an interviewer for the project. While her pandemic experience was primarily positive, she is happy to contribute her story as she believes it brings light to the racial inequities that others have experienced throughout the state. Ms. Cowan thinks that projects like such are important to preserve, as oral history projects help capture and preserve the emotions and personal stories behind an event, rather than just reading a document about it.
Abigail Cowan is an interviewer for the Community History Project at the Connecticut Historical Society. She is from Torrington, Connecticut. The first major disruption to her life due to COVID-19 was her schooling. Ms. Cowan discusses the challenges of doing remote learning during her senior year at community college. She talks about how it was a difficult transition from graduating community college and not being able to physically be on campus when she transferred to Central Connecticut State University, highlighting topics such as isolation and loss of social life. However, Ms. Cowan did not think remote learning was all bad, as she enjoyed being able to work on her own time and having more academic freedom, in a sense.
Ms. Cowan talks about how she contracted COVID-19 in January 2021, and the symptoms that coincided with it. She lost her sense of taste and smell, and at the time of the interview, was still struggling to get those senses fully back to pre-pandemic levels. Her mother and father also contracted COVID-19 during the same time and experienced similar symptoms. During this time, she rediscovered hobbies she enjoyed years prior, and believes the pandemic helped her find herself again. Ms. Cowan decided not to pursue a career in education, and instead found her calling in the public history sphere.
Ms. Cowan ends her interview by discussing her thoughts about being an interviewer for the project. While her pandemic experience was primarily positive, she is happy to contribute her story as she believes it brings light to the racial inequities that others have experienced throughout the state. Ms. Cowan thinks that projects like such are important to preserve, as oral history projects help capture and preserve the emotions and personal stories behind an event, rather than just reading a document about it.
Object number2022.20.32a-b
NotesSubject Note: The Connecticut Historical Society’s Community History Project (CHP) is a public-facing initiative, focused on contemporary collecting, gathering items of the recent past as well as from events happening today. This program developed community historians to identify, document, and preserve their experiences as residents of Connecticut, and to share these experiences during a series of community presentations. The project focused on the impact of Covid-19 on Connecticans, particularly on Black and Brown communities, funeral homes, and on nursing home and elder care populations.Cataloging Note: This cataloging project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services MA-249472-OMS-21.
Subject Terms
- Hartford
- Oral history
- Interviews
- COVID-19 (Disease)
- COVID-19 Pandemic (2020)
- Oral narratives
- COVID-19 (Disease)
- People of color
- Health
- Public health
- White people
- White privilege (Social structure)
- Women
- Students
- College students
- Online learning and distance education
- Masks
- Face masks
- Grocery shopping
- Symptoms
- Vaccines
- Vaccine hesitancy
- Vaccine mandates
- Schools
- Internet
- Social media
- Retail trade
- Black Lives Matter movement
- Protest demonstrations
- Elections
- Voting
- Trump, Donald, 1946-
- Absentee voting
- Election fraud
- Politics, practical
- Capitol Riot, Washington, D.C., 2021
- Capitol Riot, Washington, D.C., 2021
- Family
- Friendship
- Relationships
- Mental health
- Flirting
- Interviews and Oral Histories
- Born Digital Audio
- Community History Project IMLS Museums for America Grant
- COVID-19 Pandemic Collection
Collections
- COVID-19 Pandemic Oral History Interviews (Community History Project), 2022-2023
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2022 June 7
