PBS News Hour

The role of face masks in pandemic history and culture

Face masks have become part of our daily lives in a way few would have anticipated only months ago. Yet the coronavirus pandemic is not the first American crisis in which face coverings have played a central role. The Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History is preserving artifacts from this pandemic -- and placing them in historical context. Jeffrey Brown reports.

The role of face masks in pandemic history and culture

5m 44s

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