Archives Found

This morning’s brief NYT article about the death of one of the last known survivors of the Titanic made me pause for a moment. Not because I’m a Titanic buff (I’m not, though I do find the story to be fascinating), but because of the mention that the deceased was one of the last two survivors of that fateful journey, a representative of the past. As time marches onward, memories fade and we begin to lose more and more “eyewitnesses” to history. Within my lifetime, the last Holocaust survivor, the last soldier present on D-Day, and others will slowly go “into that good night.” I’m not ready for that to happen yet. As an archivist charged with preserving history, I feel that I am always looking for ways to stave off a time when firsthand accounts are no longer available in the flesh. Of course oral histories look to fill that gap, but are there other things that we can do as keepers of the record to preserve the immediacy of speaking with someone who was there at Normandy? How can we, without overinterpreting or overemphasizing, better bring an accurate sense of the past to the present? What are the best ways to capture these things now, before the opportunity is lost?

I haven’t been around here as much as I’d meant to be, and that’s partly because I’ve been trying too hard. I’ve been struggling to try to keep life and other non-related things outside of the blog, and it’s not really working for me all that well. Additionally, I’ve been having a hard time keeping my “inner editor” in check, but hopefully any readers (and I don’t think there are many) will forgive some rough posts. My life- related journal has been bearing the brunt of the postings lately, and I’m going to attempt to create and maintain more of a balance between the two.

I accepted an archivist position that is, so far, the perfect fit for me. I probably won’t be talking much about job specifics (at least not yet), but I intend to be much more active in here regarding issues that affect and are of interest to archives users and archivists. I have a few projects in the works that I’m planning to discuss here very soon.

So, it’s been awhile. (Vast understatement: it’s been about 10 months.) Fortunately, I don’t think anyone actually reads this except for me… so at least I haven’t left anyone hanging.

Big developments: I finished my masters degree in December, and I’m searching for a job.

Things that are making me think right now:

My freshman college roommate/best friend from college just had her second child. My best friend from high school (well, his wife) just had their first. My brother and his wife have a 6-month old. All of them have homes, and mortgages, and at least a facade of stability. What about me?

Well, Mr. M. and I are renting a small apartment in Boston, and hoping that I’ll find a magnificent job that I love and that will help pay the bills. While I like my current job, it’s a grant, and won’t last for too much longer. Homeownership here is uncomfortably out of reach for us in any realistic sort of way, at least at this point in time. As for the kid question– while we get it ALL of the time, I don’t know how close we are to a non-negative answer. Does that mean that we’re unstable, un-adult, un-American? or just normal?