What are Archives
A variety of definitions for the term archives. Take a look at the Society of American Archivists’ Dictionary of Archives Terminology for a few examples. A working one for our purposes comes from Archival Research at Barnard and Beyond:
Archives and archival collections unique constellations of unpublished records made in the course of normal activities. Archives are comprised of primary sources, but not all primary sources are archival.
Problems with Archives
- Archives have historically valued Western forms of record keeping over alternative forms of memory work (meeting minutes over oral histories). They have centered institutions, colonial powers, and white, wealthy, cisgender, able-bodied, patriarchal subjects while obscuring, disregarding, and silencing the stories of marginalized peoples.
- Archival work has often been focused on asserting control not only over materials, but also over those who would like to view or use archival materials. Surveillance, policing, and intensive security protocols are prevalent in archival reading rooms.
- Traditional archival theory constructs the archivist as an objective, passive force, when in reality, archivists make very active choices in their work: what to seek out for their institutions collections, what materials to keep or not keep, how to arrange and describe those materials, and how to promote access to the materials.
- Many archivists in the field today are working against and around these problems
What’s in Your Archive?
If you were to donate your archive somewhere, what would it include? Take a few minutes to draw or write a list.