Are you afraid of the darkives?
A question we hear a lot in our instruction sessions is, “who decides what gets added to the archives?” Usually, this question comes from undergraduates and first time researchers who are surprised at the complexity of our answer. Looking beyond the concrete processes of the profession, the deed of gift agreements and donor cultivation efforts, Archivists play a large role in memory production. We’re often charged with forging lines of communication between the past and present. We’re as much a part of the life cycle of information as we’re a part of the lives and deaths of individuals represented by the collections we preserve. Being and archivist requires a certain amount of reflection on morality that isn’t necessary in other information professions. And we think that’s pretty metal.
Stay tuned for more posts from the darkives between now and Halloween. Stay spooky, Tumblr.