Historical Hawkeyes
The plight of the archivist (or archivist in training, in my case) is that sometimes this job is heartbreaking. Archivists spend so much time reading, researching, and organizing these records that sometimes it’s hard not to get too attached. We get to find out about all of the amazing things the people we’re researching accomplished, read the sentimental letters they wrote to their mothers, and look at snapshots from their everyday lives.
So when I found out that Nile Kinnick’s plane tragically crashed during a training exercise, I experienced a feeling I have come to describe as “The Archivist Heart Drop”. I feel that slight sinking feeling when I realize that the world lost a great man that day. The last thing Nile Kinnick wrote in his diary was “People must come before profits!!”, and I couldn’t agree more. So let’s all focus a little more on the people in our lives, today, and take some time to remember the great people of our past.
-Kelly
The Papers of Nile C. Kinnick, University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa City, Iowa.
MsC 0112