Wednesday, June 8, 2016
Week 1 Reading
Welcome to the class, everyone. It was nice to meet you today.
This weeks reading in Jimerson, pp. 1-46.
Then reply on the blog in 2-3 original paragraphs describing your pre-understanding of archivists and archival work (i.e. your understanding upon starting this class), and the most interesting or surprising thing you discovered in the reading this week.
I'll post the other links I mentioned today shortly.
~ATR
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Before I worked with certified archivist, Kathy Cuff, at the museums of Tusculum College, I believed archivists to be able to work magic. Archiving to me was on the same par as what I now know to be a conservationist. Alright, so I watched a little too much National Treasure, but who didn't. Now, all of that may not be true, but archivists can still work some magic, for instance created moisture chambers to get images to lay down correctly again. That's pretty magical. While working with Kathy, she taught me a lot of things, but I of course am in no way well versed in archivery (as I like to call it!) and all of the things archivists do is still a mystery to me I look forward to finding out!
ReplyDeleteAt the beginning of this class, before we went into detail about archivists that first day, I pretty much just assumed they took care of the paperwork. When I say paperwork, I mean the historical documentation along with the legal documentation that it takes acquire the historical documentation. They arranged it, took care of it, kept it out of the sunlight. They also would take care of the images, books and sound recordings. I found it quite fascinating to learn more about what an archivist does. Although I have some prior knowledge, it was just prior knowledge from being a work study student with an archivist (as I said before!).
The biggest surprise I noticed was how undervalued they are. This shouldn't be a surprise really because I know what Kathy made at the college, but it still did. I just figured the college was cheap, but no, archivists and their talents are woefully undervalued. The fact that the fight for recognition has been going on since the 1970s has had to go on this long is just sad. Everyone wants to know eventually where things come from (usually in the form of genealogy) but sometimes its just too late. I personally have just recently had a problem with it coming too late. My working thesis was about treatments in the insane asylum and when I went to get records from the archives, they informed me that all of those records had been destroyed. I wanted to throttle someone.
Thanks for stepping up first.
DeleteI enjoyed your comments on the "curatorial" role of archivists.
Did you get to the reading?
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ReplyDeletePrior to pursuing higher education, my previous jobs seemed to have one thing in common. I dealt with personal records. I worked as an Academic Advisor in the Registrar's Office at Georgia Tech, and I often had to search older records, the ones that were kept on microfiche. It was my favorite thing to do. Sometimes, I would pull up the oldest records that I could find, just to examine the documents (old transcripts, handwritten notes). It was fascinating. It was personal. It was important to the families that we held those records. It was their legacy. It was also important to the Alumni Association, because it meant money. I worked there too prior to the Registar's Office. I also worked at the American Red Cross for several years, again, with confidential, personal information. We needed those records to save lives.
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't until I became a student that I understood the gravity of protecting these records as well as the wide world of archives that I would come to need, or want to have access to--for research purposes, curiosity, or simply for the sake of knowing that something that may seem insignificant now, could become extremely significant over time.
Last semester, I was in the middle of a research project when I became obsessed with reading old newspapers from the early 1900s, specifically, The West Georgian. It was then that I realized how grateful, and how lucky I am to be able to access these papers online, and I tried to imagine how much work went into making these papers accessible. I knew it had to have been a tremendous, tedious effort.
Part of my thesis project will include archiving the Lewis Larson documents that we have at the Waring Archaeology Lab at the University of West Georgia. I had planned to do it as my internship this summer, but I realized as I looked at the file cabinets full of his documents that I had no idea where to begin. I knew I was in trouble. It is no surprise that archivists have been quite the unsung heroes, because it wasn't until I was standing in front of that file cabinet that I realized that archiving is not just scanning and sorting. It's an art. I need to tell a story with those documents, and I have a lot to learn.
Very interesting. Thanks, April.
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ReplyDeleteBefore stating the class I thought, archives and collections were the same thing. In fact, on the ride over, I was enlightened about the difference, thanks to my friend and classmate, Melanie. This new understanding made me worried, reading “mostly” written documents and arranging them were not included in my summer class plans. Sure, I am good at organizing and I love to read. Even more so, I am known for keeping my work records in great order and I have helped others with their record keeping. I have even arranged archives at the Center for Public History and the Marietta Museum of History at some capacity. However, I was not looking forward to learning about “glorified record-keeping”. Then, I walked into class and it was made to sound interesting and fun .
ReplyDeleteThis week our class read pages 1-46 of American Archival Studies: Reading in Theory and Practice. I learned that archivist are more that record-keepers, they help society understand memory through the preservation of records, textual and visual. As an historian in training, I understand the value of memory and how fickle it can be due to the human condition. Thus, maintaining records can help society maintain its memory. Furthermore, archivist are, “…partners of librarians, museum professionals, folklorists, archaeologist, and all the others that preserve cultural records in its material form” (27). In all, archivist are an important part in maintaining memory and helping society understand their history through textual and visual records.
"I walked into class and it was made to sound interesting and fun." Good.
DeleteAnd 'record-keeping-- what I liked to call 'documentation work' -- Its indeed important and interesting.
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DeleteI meant no disrespect to the field in my post, I am excited to learn about archives this semester.
DeleteNone taken here, Channell.
DeleteI looked at archivists as those who oversaw the stockpiles of paper documents from history and nothing really more. I never really considered that archivists hold the responsibility for how people view the past and how they remember individuals. Now, the distinction of the archivist's role in the field of history is made. A great deal of objectivity and honesty rests on the shoulder of all archivists to present their collections without bias. Archivists are in a unique place in the field since they deal with documents instead of interpreters, who's words only last as long as the speak.
ReplyDeleteI have a strong interest in archival work. I was not sure what I would do with my history degree so I took an internship my last year of undergrad with the National Archives at Atlanta. It was so enjoyable. I got to spend a lot of time with the records in their archives. It helped me get a grasp on their organizational system. It also taught me basic components of a record group or series--taught me how they categorized things.
ReplyDeleteI had so much interest in the archives that I wanted to take the summer and intern with another archive. I got to intern with the Jimmy Carter Library and Museum. This was enjoyable, too, because I got to have decision in how a subseries was described and organized [to the extent that I could; I had original/creator order to follow]. I also got to work with photos with this internship. And for my 1st graduate research assistantship, I got to work with SERO as an Archivist Assistant. I got to go through some of the KIMO records and re-folder/re-file then based on their alphanumeric code, and thereunder chronologically. So, my interest in archives is deep and I am coming into this class having some knowledge of archives and archival practice.
And as for the reading, I was surprised to know that what got me into archives--the possibilities of what could be contained in the records, getting to work hands-on with history, and the analytical work that goes into archives--got another person, John Fleckner, into archives as well. Archives gives the public history career field a great avenue for those seeking jobs working with and preserving textual documents/photographs/videos for current and future generational use. There are so many records contained in archives all around the world and the endless possibilities of information and content held in the records offers boundless research and historical opportunities.