It is a call to action to listen to the voices that are around you every day. It is impossible to understand every person complexly, our little brains would explode under that kind of pressure, but getting to know one new person's story every day would make the world a kinder more understanding place.
This is a hard call to action, but if we are able to take the time to play silly games on our phone or to watch fictional TV for 30 minutes, we can begin to build an archive of understanding between each other.
Archives hold the documents to the past. It is important for us to think about how the future will view us in one hundred years.
I do not not exactly how to start because the assignment was to review an article about an archive(s) that deal with diversity or minority groups and how to best advocate for a diverse collection within large archives.
I was supposed to read only one, but in a time when I am crunched for time and have my thesis to work on and a Linguistics project to complete of course I procrastinated and read all of the articles.
And I realized, not for the first time mind you, that I am ignorant.
Not the ignorant that says hateful things.
Ignorant because I do not listen enough to the voices of my neighbors.
As a historian I spend most of my time reading about the lives of dead people who lived over one hundred years ago and half way across the world from me. I sit among archives that contain voices of people who were wealthy and who had power and prestige.
I- I use the word I too much and do not stop and think enough about the lives and histories of people that I encounter on a daily basis.
Archives, I have learned are not just repositories for the senators and business people of the world, but also can house the experiences of farmers, activists and students if there is an interested party willing to do research on those lives. With an increased interest in the lives of women, African-Americans, Latinos, LGBTQ+, and Indigenous peoples, archives are being created to fulfill this desire.
But the question is- how do we make it so that the lives of these people are not just "specialty" topics? How can historians, archivists, and greater academia incorporate the lives and voices of these people without losing the significance that these groups for the majority of history- have not had a voice or place among the gilded halls of libraries, archives, and history books?
Of course there are exceptions to this rule, but the examples of them are few and far between.
One of the main lessons I learned from my readings is that especially underrepresented voices, when they do have an archive created, it is filled with emotion. There are some of the same legal and official documents that are found in older archives, but the oral histories and letters are filled with an emotion that cannot but helped be felt by the archivist.
This part of my internship will stick with me for a long time, and I hope it will remind me, regardless of my future profession, that all voices have gravity, purpose, and merit in the history of their community.
It is getting down to the last days of the semester here- and not just the semester but also my days in South Dakota. But, do not fret, I will probably (mostly likely) be back in Vermillion for one reason or another.
Today's entry is talking about what it means to be an ethical archivist. According to the Code of Ethics for Archivists on the SAA website:
Archives are created by a wide array of groups and provide evidence of the full range of human experience. Archivists endeavor to ensure that those materials entrusted to their care will be accessible over time as evidence of human activity and social organization. Archivists embrace principles that foster the transparency of their actions and that inspire confidence in the profession. A distinct body of ethical norms helps archivists navigate the complex situations and issues that can arise in the course of their work. http://www2.archivists.org/statements/saa-core-values-statement-and-code-of-ethics#code_of_ethics
What happens though when your collection contains information that contains explicit information about a murder or the collection was not obtained in a transparent matter? The best practices in ethics have slightly changed over the years- so sometimes it is not any one's particular fault, but it still means that the current archivist must make some serious decisions. One of the first things that archivists do when they have obtained a collection is processing the documents- this typically makes sure that serious, personal or compromising information can be restricted or removed. Many times collections have a restriction placed on them by the donor- cannot be opened for X amount of years/or until after my death, sort of thing.
I had to read a really interesting article which discussed the slippery slope of a collection that was created and collected at Boston College containing interviews of former IRA members- in 1998 some of the protocols that oral history centers have created to protect interviewers from potentially implicating themselves or others in a prosecutable crime. As a historian, I understand why these men did what they did in terms of keeping their project secret. The history of the violence in Ireland is decades long and still not fully healed. The intent- according to the historian in the group was to collect a cutting edge history for scholars in the future to go through. It was never intended to be used in the present, when so many former and active members of the IRA are still alive. I do not know what I would do in the situation at Boston College or the other Case studies given on the SAA website regarding the question of access and ethics in archive collections. I can only hope that I would be able to find a path that allowed for the integrity and protection of the collection to be secure enough that allowed for patrons to look at the voices of the past and present in a respectful manner. The article can be found here: http://www.chronicle.com/interactives/belfast if you are interested in reading it. As always Peace, -Kylie
So, two posts in a week! The end of the semester is fast approaching and that means that I only have 2 more posts after this one! I have been having such a great time here in the archive and I have recently had the pleasure of participating in a library wide project involving high school students and creating a small exhibit inside the University Library using archival material.
The exhibit I created was to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Mt. Rushmore. Most of you that read this humble blog know that I am not a native of South Dakota and a brief confession, I have yet to travel across this state to go see this monument in person. I relied heavily on the Mount Rushmore National Park website for information as well as some fun details from my friend and fellow student worker archivist Shelby who is from the Rapid City area. As far as I can tell people have found it interesting and informative so, it is a small success to say the least.
On November 9th the Yankton High School AP US History class came to the University Library to learn about how archives are valuable for primary document searches and best practices in using a library to do extensive research. A team of librarians, archivists, and historians stationed themselves on the second and third floor of the library to help out these young historians on their quest to complete the initial research that was required of them that day.
Their day began with a rotation between rooms which held presentations about the kind of information the students could access here at the USD library. They rotated through Oral History, Government Documents, a crash course in database searching, and fly by on how to use and search through archives. My involvement was to create a more narrow view of the normally broad lesson that Lisa teaches to university students at the request of professors like Dr. Rozum. I just used the topic theme the students last year had and framed my hypothetical project around a fairly easy subject- Mount Rushmore!
That is right, I used my research for my exhibit as an example for my part of the presentation. Thank goodness (kind of, sort of) that the archive has over 150 boxes from Peter Norbeck, one of the key individuals that made Mount Rushmore possible. As a former Governor and Senator of South Dakota, Norbeck has so much in his collection. I have to be a little grateful in that the majority of his documents are typed which makes using his documents for display and examples easier.
I really enjoyed being able to give the small presentation about historical method and research- because many of the topics that the students had chosen were not South Dakota related I was able to provide some tips regarding how to reach out the archivists out of state and- in my case- out of the United States.
In the afternoon I spent my time answering a lot of good questions and answering not so good questions (specifically- How do you get to J-Store again?) But I realized that even despite having to answer redundant questions the questions of substance were good, even excellent questions. It is moments such as those that remind me why I love working with students and being in the education field.
I have to do a brief shout out the library staff and USD faculty that were involved because it was a team effort that ended in a very successful manner. The students- even if they were bored by 2:00 in the afternoon. (I would have checked out by then as well- I love history and research, but a full day of it makes even me tired of looking at pages and pages of documents and J-Store)
All in all, I think that the hands on interaction with students and patrons has been my favorite part of interning with the USD University Archives and Special Collections.
I am finally get caught up in terms of work and I figured it was no time like the present to write up my blog about the science and art of Photograph archives.
Did you know that there is a book that is filled with all of the ways that photographs have been processed over the years? It is a solid four inches thick and is all description- no pictures or other fluff which is really awesome and pretty intimidating.
As I have been working here in the archives one of the most amazing things I have gotten to do is learn more about photo processing and conservation.
I am going to use this as a little PSA to all of you, since I know that you and your families have photo sitting in boxes, albums and frames throughout your homes.
Early photography from the late 1800s into the mid 1900s (into the 1970's ish) was super complicated and took a ridiculously long time, but in terms of longevity they last a long time as long as they were taken care of. I use this broad period because even into the 1980s and 1990s before digital photography was a process- manual photo processing done well (which it often was not) took a long time to do.
Photographs can be damaged by a lot of things:
Chemicals that were not washed away during processing
Long exposure to light
Off-gassing objects stored near photographs
Acidic paper or plastic (often used in photo albums)
Keeping different types of photographs (specifically b/w photos and color photos) together
SO MANY OTHER THINGS
I like photographs because I think no matter the quality of the photo it gives a glimpse into the lives of a group of people. If has historical context- like a family watching to moon landing or President Obama's first swearing in ceremony- multiple perspectives gives an event more dimension. It's one thing to see a glossy professional photo of a historical event- it's another to find one in a family photo album. I think it makes it more exciting.
But there are two things my friends that I want to be more specific on which I had found important and could potentially help you one day too.
1) Everybody has a family photo collection. Thrown into boxes or albums these family treasures sit and off-gas on to each other so that many of those photo will never see fifty years. I don't know about you, but I want to keep some of those photo around to show my grandchildren. But not all is lost! There are ways to help stop the degradation of your photos!
Invest in your pictures- I know that not everyone may be able to afford a fancy system that keeps pictures in a pristine environment but there are cost effective ways to store your pictures.
If you are an album person- go through your photo albums and determine if your photo album is acid free- It will be pretty obvious- anything before the 1980s is most likely not acid free and those pictures need attending to first. Finding acid free albums should not be too difficult- have a friend/child/grandchild help you move the pictures. It could be a great family exercise as you tell them about the people/places in the photographs.
If your pictures are in boxes- in my case, often just thrown into a large cardboard box. Take some time to assess those pictures and get a non-acidic box and some non-acidic paper/folders. The separation of those photos and storage in a safe place will help make those photos last much longer.
It is important that Black and White photos are kept separate. Due to some chemistry stuff B&W and color photos do not like each other and should be kept far apart.
There is an excellent book called A Guide to the Preventive Conservation of Photograph Collections by Bertrand Lavedrine. There is some specifics regarding collection care, but if you are interested, it is very readable and provided me- a non-photography person- quite a lot of excellent information in how to better take care of my own photos.
2) The second thing I learned was about the laws regarding photography. FERPA and copyright laws are complicated but both are really important to know.
FERPA is best known to college students as that thing that prevents their parents from snooping on their grades without them knowing. FERPA also is involved deeply in the use and display of university photography. If you are on campus in a building and a university photographer takes your picture- they cannot use it unless they have obtained direct consent from the student/faculty/ect in the picture. That means that after the magic date of the 1960s unless a photograph has a permission from that student for each picture- the pictures cannot be used in any circumstance. Here at the University Archive there are hundreds of photos without permission slips that cannot be used due to FERPA. The exception to this is student athletes and organizations (such as the Greek Orgs and Marching Band) that have compulsory permission slips attached to their groups. It's too bad that so many photos do not have permission slips- because even the archivist cannot ethically look through those photos. What history is being lost because somebody was too lazy/was not informed of the laws regarding photograph permission slips? Boxes and boxes (hundreds of pictures) here at USD and I could guess the same is similar to other university archives too.
Photographs are amazing pieces of history and I know that I have been neglectful in taking care of my own photographs. I hope that you learned a little here and if you have questions I would be happy to answer them the best I can!
Today I am posting about four main tasks that archivists engage in regularly; acquisition, appraisal, arranging, and describing.
Archives exist because the concept of record keeping for political administration has been around since the written record. Professor Lehmann in Western Civilization I teaches his students how records were kept on clay tablets in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Greece. We know this because of archaeologists and as we move through history, records and record keeping evolve with the times.
The concept of record keeping in Europe is vastly different than that of the United States. In England for example, documents are kept in the archival regardless of the content- a policy established in the medieval period so that everything was located in a central place. The archivist simply collected and stored the documents- even if they were still "working" documents, a concept related to the idea that a working document is still a document with a functional use.
The National Archive was not established until the 1930s, meaning that there was potential for interpretation in how archivists in the United States thought about and maintained their archive. The thought of collecting all government related documents made some American archivists come up with other ways to collect archival material. In the early American system, not all documents are created equal. There is a hierarchy which often if considered. For example, The minutes for a production meeting at Disney is considered important, the receipt for the coffee and donuts are not.
This being said, not all archivists agreed with this thought so the collection plan is different for each archive. Depending on the institution, it may be necessary for an archivist to get donations for their archive. The use of social media can be helpful in this endeavor to get donors to "buy in' to the idea of housing important papers, books, and pictures in their archive. Once a collection- whole or in part- is decided to be accepted into an archive then the task of processing the collection is the next step.
The processing of a collection is detailed work. The archivist's job is to gather and record as much information possible on the contents so that is can be used in the future. This is particularly important if a donated collection has a time/person restriction placed on it by the donor. If for example a 20 year time restriction is placed on a collection then the archivist who was in charge/contact with the donor has the responsibility of recording as much information as possible for the person who will be processing it in 20 years time.
The actual processing of a collection of papers is important, and from what I have gathered is part of a semester worth of education- considering that it involves learning how to use the various library systems (I say various because each institution uses different programs).
The point, in my opinion of collecting documents and pictures in an archive (because I am still a historian after all) is the eventual use of these documents for historical analysis. To make the collections more accessible, knowing what is in the collection and where the collection is important for helping future patrons.
The first thing is to be respectful of the documents. Keeping an acquired collection together is important for the sake of provenance. The only thing that should be removed from a collection is photographs because the preservation of documents and the preservation of photographs are very different.
The more detailed the finding aides for a collection the easier it becomes to use a collection. These finding aides will be very different based off the patron demographics.
Here at the University of South Dakota's Special Collections and University Archives the primary patrons are often students and regional historians. Many SD state senators have their papers housed here at the library and the finding aides for a collection like that are often fairly straight forward (but not always! From what I have gathered, easy is the exception, not the rule).
As an example, Senator Peter Norbeck's papers are housed here in the Richardson Collection, which is a large portion of the archival space here at the university. He was very involved in the Mount Rushmore project- appointing groups of people to the committee in the state and keeping in contact with the US appropriations commission to gain and maintain funding for the project until completion. We have four boxes of documents pertaining to Mount Rushmore in the Norbeck collection. In those boxes are folders with many documents to go through. I was able to go to our finding aides and use those to figure out which folders I wanted to look through first, otherwise I would have had to look through every folder in every box to find what I was looking for.
The path of donated collections is interesting and complicated and I do not know, my dear friends if I explained some parts of this process well. This post is a combination of about 3 weeks worth of reading and conversation with the university archivist Lisa ( Hi Lisa!) who is my boss in this endeavor.
If you have question, feel free to ask. I will do my best to answer them/ probably direct you to the resources that I have been reading.
I have now been in the archives for about a week, just in time for American Archives Month. It's interesting to note the desire to raise awareness for the conservation and use of facilities that literally keep historical documents safe and secure for posterity.
I have been reading a lot from http://www2.archivists.org/about-archives to get a sense of the work that archivists across the country are doing. The people who have dedicated their life to preserving our history face a number of issues which range from bureaucratic non-sense to natural disasters. The spectrum of possibilities that threaten the existence of archives is terrible, but through education, more people can become aware of the existence of their local archives, historical societies, and museums.
Archives are truly amazing and hold answers to questions that future historians will ask about the past and the present. I sometimes ponder what future historians will think when they look at the use of memes and GIFs while they analyze the current election.
One of my reading assignments from the last couple of weeks included a reading from American Archivist. Randall Jimerson, a former president of the Society of American Archivists, who wrote an article called "Embracing the Power of Archives" in which he gives a series of images related to what an archive can be to patrons.
He begins with with calling the archive a temple: something that is awesome (inspiring great admiration, apprehension, or fear) which holds the heart and soul of humanity. The fact than many old libraries and museums were built to reflect Greco-Roman architecture to increases the feeling of reverence towards the materials housed within its walls. But because within the temple walls the artifacts are precious, to access the materials, it becomes a prison, with the archivists as the guards, making sure that the material being looked at does not get damaged or stolen. Then the prison becomes a restaurant, as the archivist provides a menu that outlines the available material. But, instead of getting a complete meal, the materials are letters, government documents, photographs, and journals that make up a person's life or a period of time in a community. It is then that a the visitor- the historian, must take the ingredients given to them. They read, analyze, and write down their best interpretation of the material.
Sometimes that interpretation is very hard. My second semester of grad school I took a class with Dr. Clayton Lehmannm a, classics professor, at the University of South Dakota. It was about Alexander the Great and a great deal of the class involved reading the sources from Ptolemy, Plutarch, and Curtius Rufus. I struggled as I read their account of Alexander's exploits. I wanted more materiel in order to better understand the events. Alexander historians were limited to archaeological evidence and the few surviving writings from the time make and support their arguments. Medieval scholars face the same strugle. Dr. Nicole Hamonic, the resident Medievalist at USD talked about her luck with archives concerning her research, but told us that due to a number of reasons, like war and other such disasters, some archives are no longer in existence.
The concept of even having archives is a complicated matter all together. Jimerson highlights perspectives from George Orwell and George Lucas, two pop culture icons that both had important commentaries regarding the nature of the archive.
George Orwell, ever the realist, warned of the consequences of archives. Due to the under-representation of certain groups such as slaves, women, and the poor the written historical narrative has for many years left out those histories. It has only been in the last forty years or so that a push to find and include other voices has been a concern.
George Lucas, as Jimerson argues, has a better opinion regarding archives. Due to the nature of the Star Wars universe, the Jedi Temple archives contains everything and, according to the archivist is absolutely secured. When Obi-Wan Kenobi is trying to find information about Kamino, he asks the archivist Jocasta Nu, for help. She is unfamiliar with the name and is certain that if it is not in the system that it simply does not exist. Jocasta's faith in the archival is not meant to be over-zealous, but knows and understands the steps that the Jedi archives have taken to protect the contents of the archive. She believes that it is impossible for the archive to be corrupt. It is not until Yoda reveals to Obi-Wan that only a Jedi can delete information within the archive that the story moves to the serious revelation of the clones located on Kamino.
Below are a two videos of the archive scene (because the all knowing internet did not have one video of the entire archive scene)
I understand Orwell's worry that some voices have not been represented and could be lost or silenced by the "victors". But I want to have the faith in archives that Jocasta Nu has in Attack of the Clones. I believe in order to mitigate the worries of Orwell is to make sure that the public is aware and invested in the order and maintenance of the archives.
The Jimerson article's essential message is that for better or for worse archives hold an incredible amount of power and influence over the future of our historical narrative and it is the job of the historian and archivist to do their best in preserving as many voices and stories possible.
Jimerson, Randall C. "Embracing the Power of Archives" The American Archivist
Vol. 69, No. 1 (Spring - Summer, 2006), pp. 19-32.
As I continue to learn about the archives I hope that can share more fun and interesting stories and information that I find about the archives with you!
This is an incredibly late post, but at least it is here!
My last day at the South Dakota Oral History Center was last Monday. It was a little sad to go because I learned so much in the short time I was there. I felt a little better leaving when I received a notification about a release form that I had been tasked with on day one of my internship.
Quick shout out to Sam, the director of the program who taught me so much about the OHC and I hope that I can continue to be involved in educating the public about oral histories.
Last Wednesday I began my stint at the special archives located in library. I took a tour of the archival collections, got a little lost and confused, and overall had a good first day. These first few weeks of my internship up here will involve photographs and preservation and after today's discussion regarding the work I will be doing and some of the unique techniques that we have here, I am really excited to learn more,
Stay tuned in a couple of days for some reading reviews and a wrap up of thoughts for the week.
I have two parts to this post. For my internship I had to review a book called "The Good War" by Studs Terkel. It is a compilation of oral histories regarding people's experiences of World War II and the consequences of the war. It contains some really amazing insights into civilian and military experiences. What I find is that some of the thoughts of civilians concerning the post war era and the beginning of the Cold War is reminiscent of the language I am familiar regarding the post 9/11 era.
In the epilogue there are several short interview made by people reflecting the baby-boomer era.
Debbie Cooney's interview is one that stuck out to me greatly:
"I was around ten when I came aware of the bomb. It didn't have any great impact on me until a year ago, I have a niece who is eighteen months old now. . . I want her to be able to live and go out in the country and just breathe without having to worry or anything. I think a lot of times I do it more for myself because I've at least had seventeen years of life. I've at least had sort of chance. She's eighteen months old and she's just wonderful. So I just want her to have a chance"
Terkel, Studs. "The Good War". New York City, NY: Pantheon Books, 1984. pgs. 587-588.
I can't help but compare 17 year old Debbie Cooney's thoughts to mine especially since I had a similar experience with the events after 9/11. It did not worry or concern me when I was little and even when U.S. soldiers were being deployed, all I really thought about was it was sad that they could not be home. Now that I have a brother in the military and he and his wife are expecting a little baby I look back fifteen years and wonder what will be in store for my nephew in the next fifteen years.
These are often the hard and innumerable thoughts that people face every day. Recorded or not, those thoughts have an impact on how an individual, family, community perceives history, and that is important.
After a very full first week of the semester I am here to say that I love working in the Library and the National Museum Museum.
I am not saying this because technically this blog is part of my grade (Hi Lisa!)
I say this because the things I like about history come alive in the archives and the museum.
The first month of my internship is at the South Dakota Oral History Center (SDOHC) and if there is one thing that I have realized is that oral history is an underappreciated resource. At the SDOHC there are over five thousand interviews from the peoples of region. Immigrants and Native American voices fill shelves and hard drives here at the I.D. Weeks library, yet everytime I open a folder and I have to shake the dust off of my hands I feel a little sad.
These people took time to tell their story. It may not be big history but the interviews not only record daily life, they reflect the lifeblood of the region. Big history can be seen through several lenses including that of oral histories.
Do you know how some of the Lakota and Dakota people felt about the Pick-Sloan project?
Did you know that in Sioux Falls a bank was robber by one of the most infamous bank robbers in the early 20th century?
The Cold War was on the minds of many people- including South Dakotans.
The three topics above are simply a taste of topics that I have come across while working the in the SDOHC.
Oral history also keeps alive the stories that are uniquely an individuals. Grandparents, teachers, senators, all have stories to tell that are important.
Oral histories are also not very difficult to do and there has been a push by several agencies to preserve the voices of our community (StoryCorps is a huge example).
If you have a spare moments, take the time to go to the Youtube page:
https://www.youtube.com/user/SDOralHistoryCenter
or if you simply want to peruse the archives go to the South Dakota Oral History Center page at the USD library.
http://www.usd.edu/library/sdohc
If you have questions regarding how to do a oral history reach out! I would love to talk and help!
Peace,
Today was officially my first day of my internships! Now, first of all, I am so excited for this semester. I love to learn new information and skills and the wealth of knowledge that is contained at the library and National Music Museum (NMM) will certainly provide me an array of opportunities this semester.
Today at the I.D. Weeks Library I was introduced to the archives and shown around the special collections before being turned over to the South Dakota Oral History Center director for the next 5 weeks.
For those of you who are not familiar with what oral history is there are a lot of really excellent resources that you can peruse for your edification but The Oral History Association has an excellent definition that I will leave a link to as well as a link from their site that talks about doing good oral histories.
I will have more updates regarding my adventures at the Oral History Center as the weeks progress.
In addition to my introduction at the library I had a few hours of my NMM internship today as well. A significant portion of my hours will be working on a huge project the entire community of NMM people are working on (I will talk about that in a different post)
In short though, today I helped place instruments in a light box so that the museum had good quality images for the website. As a person who barely uses a point and shoot camera let alone those HUGE fancy cameras that do some incredible technological magic.
I learned how photo light boxes work (kind of) and placed many saxophones into said light box to be photographed. This required me to crawl under a sheet between takes (each instrument gets 3 pictures, but I will show you that next week) to re-position the instrument. I didn't realize that I would be doing this sort of work today so instead of wearing shorts or pants I was wearing my favorite yellow skirt because I had wanted to look nice for my first day at both of my internships. I made it work as I half crawled/crouched under the sheets of the light box. I did not drop or break any instruments- although a metal base clarinet tried to escape after I had placed it on its little stand. Thank goodness for fishing line! I will make sure that next week I will be in work type clothing and I do promise that I will link a video of what the entire process looks like because it is really neat!
You know that I am terrible at posting updates on blogs and such but this semester I have to update a blog for my new internship!
A brief recap of why I am back in Vermillion, South Dakota:
The South Dakota Board of Regents approved a certificate in Museum and Archival studies here at the University of South Dakota this past May. I had expressed an interest in working at a museum or library to Dr. Burrow, a professor in the history department and head of the graduate students in said department. He told me that I should come back in the fall since all I needed were the internship credits to complete the certificate. After weighing all of my options available to me I emailed him and let him know that I would come back.
It works out to my advantage because I still have to complete my thesis (pray for me you guys, I think writing this thesis will bring me to an early grave.) I also get some really awesome hands on training at the USD I.D. Weeks Library and the National Music Museum.
In the blog you will find reflections on reading that I have to to for my library internship (Hello Lisa!) and musing I have as I discover what it is like to work in an archive and museum.
I also hope to have Youtube videos throughout this semester. The link below is to my channel- despite it looking super drab right now. I will spiffy it up sooner rather than later.
