A common thread that connects archivists to collections is a love of history. “Duh,”you’re thinking. I mean,how original,right? But we might better ask:where does that interest originate? In a culture of change and disposability,how can we further make the argument that history matters? How can we foster the same historical interest in future generations? How can we better share our collections,our knowledge,our love of history with others?
Well,how did we get here in the first place?
One of my earliest school memories is a trip to the Bennington Museum,which was across the street from my elementary school. There’s no telling when the visit took place,but my class went to the museum somewhat bi-monthly over the five years that I attended there. I’m guessing that my first visit was somewhere around 1985,but the date doesn’t really matter. What does matter is the extent to which my imagination was piqued by the artifacts in the museum and by the stories behind them.
After seeing the Bennington Flag (also known as the “Fillmore Flag,”after the donor family) and the flag of the Green Mountain Boys,I started to become interested in Vermont history and the Revolutionary War. While reading everything I could find on these topics,I also talked my parents into taking me to visit many other New England museums. (I may have also wanted to dress up as Ethan Allen for Halloween. But I digress.) While the historical accuracy of the storied Bennington flag may now be the subject of some disagreement,what is indisputable is the impact that these items and their carefully curated stories made on at least this impressionable youth.
How can we make this happen with archives? What sort of evaluation are we doing in our repositories when it comes to intended audiences for exhibits,collections policies,and scope? How are we marketing ourselves,and how are the collections being used? Is the result different from the intent?
How are you marketing yourselves? What have the results been? I’ll be talking about American Archives Month and our results in the next post,and I encourage you to think about that as well. What do you think the point of AAM is,and does it help your institution? How?
For me,it was when my grandfather passed on. I got a bunch of his papers and books,and reading them showed me things I never knew –about his WWII service,about his relationship with my grandmother when they were young,and about his work as a delivery person for a local baking concern.
It was something that really connected me. When I found I really disliked teaching (I got my undergrad in Special Education),I decided that that kind of discovery would be a lot more interesting,so I started into LIS. I graduate in May,hopefully.
SS,thanks for sharing your story,and for stopping by!