COVID-19 Face Mask
date: label: date made
content: 2020
name: label: maker
content: Smith, Andrea G. C.
notes: label: Description
content: On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the COVID-19 outbreak had become a pandemic. On April 3, 2020, the CDC recommended that Americans wear face masks when in public spaces and unable to maintain a social distance of 6 feet or more. In the initial aftermath of this declaration, N95 masks were extremely difficult to find and some Americans began making their own masks. Many of these mask makers responded to soaring COVID rates and the ubiquitous shortage of masks by making and donating masks for communities which were suffering disproportionately from the pandemic.
label: Description
content: By March of 2020, multiple newspapers, sewing and crafting blogs, and YouTube videos provided basic instructions on mask making. However, many Americans struggled to make their own masks as they lacked not only the required sewing skills but also the necessary equipment. Ownerhship of sewing machines, which had once been ubiquitous in American households,had declined dramatically beginning in the 1960s, with a second drop in ownership occurring in the 1990s. This decline was accompanied by a corresponding drop in sewing skills; just three years before the pandemic, in 2017, Martha Stewart’s web site had noted that 60% of Americans did not know how to sew.
label: Description
content: Further complicating all of this was the fact that mask components, especially elastic, were in short supply. Recognizing these limitations, many web sites began promoting the “no-sew” mask in as early as April 2020. These masks could be made in five minutes using components most Americans already had on hand. Repurposed t-shirts and scarves were harvested for fabric while bread and coffee ties were used for nose bridges. The speed with which these objects could be made, as well as the fact that they could be made without elastic or other sewing materials which were in short supply, meant that this pattern also appealed to crafters, many of whom were skilled sewers.
label: Description
content: Andrea G.C. Smith, a teacher in the Fairfax County Public Schools in Fairfax, Virginia, took up the challenge of making “no-sew masks.” Smith was already a crafter and she was eager to make masks in response to a call she saw on Facebook. The call was a repost of a tweet sent by Bryan Stubbles on April 20, 2020, which said “The Navajo Nation NEEDS masks.” Stubbles’ tweet was re-tweeted and posted in multiple places.
label: Description
content: At the time, COVID-19 had begun to exact a major toll on the Navajo nation. As The New York Times noted, “several factors—including a high prevalence of diseases like diabetes, scarcity of running water, and homes with several generations living under the same roof—have enabled the virus to spread with exceptional speed” in the Navajo Nation. By April, COVID had killed more people on the Navajo Nation than in the entire neighboring state of New Mexico. Navajo leaders warned that the situation would become increasingly dire in the coming weeks. The lack of masks would, many believed, worsen the situation.
label: Description
content: Ms. Smith was one of many Americans who responded to the call to assist those in need. She made 250 “no sew” masks which she sent to the Navajo Nation. She noted that over the years, she had accumulated a suitcase of t-shirts. “[T[he appeal for fabric/cloth masks,” she said, “gave me an altruistic reason to ‘thin the herd’” of t-shirts she had collected. After researching mask-making on YouTube, she modified a mask pattern she found. Her modification entailed folding the fabric to create a pouch for a filter and, although the mask was a “no-sew,” she added a hand-sewn sleeve to create a nose bridge. The nose bridge typically included either a bread tie or pipe cleaner.
label: Description
content: While many Americans established sewing circles to make masks, Smith was not unusual in making the masks on her own. The simple pattern provides insight into the ingenuity of American crafters by providing a graphic illustration of how even those who lacked sewing skills could address mask shortages. Similarly, the use of re-purposed t-shirts, pipe cleaners, and bread ties illustrates how shortages of elastic and other sewing materials complicated the creation of masks during the early period of the pandemic and ultimately led to the creation of masks which could be made with basic household items.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Virginia, Fairfax
label: associated place
content: United States: Arizona, Window Rock
topic: label: general subject association
content: COVID-19 (Disease)
label: general subject association
content: Medical supplies
label: related event
content: COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020-2023
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Andrea G.C. Smith
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2022.0026.01
label: catalog number
content: 2022.0026.01
label: accession number
content: 2022.0026
objectType: label: Object Name
content: face mask
label: Object Name
content: mask
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: fabric; wire; thread (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall (just mask): 4 3/4 in x 10 in x 1/4 in; 12.065 cm x 25.4 cm x .635 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall (mask with ties extended): 9 in x 34 in x 1/4 in; 22.86 cm x 86.36 cm x .635 cm