Why care about archives?
I always learn from my conversations with readers or potential readers or really anyone who stops by my table or finds out I am an archivist. I was reminded of this when I was chatting with a woman who stopped by my table at the last books/author event I participated in. I was talking about my new zine, How to Do Archival Research: A Guide to What’s Possible, and she asked about what people find in archives?
It was the close to the end of the event and I do tend to run out of words after talking for hours, so I couldn’t come up with any examples of what people research in archives. And I have so many examples, but I couldn’t pull any of them up.
Side note - I clearly need to create a document or reference sheet of examples of what people research.
I was very frustrated with myself, but it was also a familiar conversation. Most people don’t know anything about archives and definitely don’t know why they should care. Folks want to know what they will find, what kinds of documents or books or photos exist in your collection. Very much a “I’ll know it when I see it” approach. However, since archives are by definition unique, I would not be able to describe in details everything in a collection.
For example, a box containing 200 letters to the mayor in 1956 could cover any number of topics. I could describe each one, which would take time and may not provide anything useful for the researcher. I could group them by subject, all letters about potholes together, all letters about the Mayoral Ball together - you get the picture. Maybe there wold be 30-40 different subjects in the box. I could just label the box Mayoral Correspondence 1956. It is accurate and faster, but not super useful. The thing is there is no right answer.
Part of my job doing outreach for the archives was to try to engage people with archives by finding something that might interest them specifically. That is where my many examples come into play. I could generally hit on something that resonated with people, eventually. Using archives is not typically straight forward and requires a leap of faith. What would it be like to ask questions that you don’t know the answer to already?
The comments I get most from readers that have read my book, The Traveling Archivist, is that they didn’t know archives were so important and that they could access them. It is the best outreach I have ever done.
Enjoy
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