Archivists on the Issues: Fictional Archivists Out in the Open [Part 2]
Archivists on the Issues is a forum for archivists to discuss the issues we are facing today. Today’s post comes from Burkely Hermann (me), Metadata Librarian for the National Security Archive and current I&A Blog Coordinator. There will be spoilers for each of the books, animated series, films, and other media he will be discussing. It was published on the Issues & Advocacy blog on March 8, 2023 and will be published on my Wading Through the Cultural Stacks WordPress blog in late September.
However, very few, if any, of these archivists have any professional training. Furthermore, some are archivists in name only, or are confused with librarians. Current fictional depiction of archivists is not very positive. After all, there are even books that depict archivists are villains, or others in which archivists which rarely appear. [2] While there are recent webcomics like Vowrune, Fluidium, and Don't Look at the Sky which feature archives, none of them depict archivists. There has not been, that I'm aware of, any characters which accurately depict an archivist. Surely, there is prevalence of archival source material in "popular recent true crime docuseries" like The Keepers, The Jinx, and Making a Murderer as Cate Peebles noted in 2018, but no archivists.
Often scholars have focused on the role of Star Wars when it comes to depictions of archives, and archivists. [3] Others, such as Gianni Penzo Doria, director of State Archives of Venice, have gone broader, noting archival themes in many films, such as Brazil (1985), Blade (1998), Julie & Julia (2009), Fail Safe (1964), Philadelphia (1993), and Erin Brockovitch (2000). Doria further argued that role of the archivist is lost in common perceptions, with "boring old stereotypes" and "poor visibility" of archives, with archivists becoming caricatures, rather than protagonists. He also states that in film archives are only respected when they are seen as a "sacred place" which preserves "memory of its creator and guarantees accountability and citizens’ rights", but that archivists are not shown in those films. [4] In the preface to Doria's book, Micaela Procaccia, president of National Association of Italian Archives (ANAI), urged archivists to make an effort to "spread awareness of the central role of their work and their professional skills in society." His words ring true.
Others have rightly noted that many of the depictions of archivists "reinforce stereotypes that surround the profession", including in National Treasure. Nuances in the archival field are often lost in popular depictions. Kyle Neill, a Senior Archivist at the Peel Art Gallery, Museum and Archives, has focused on this in his posts on such depictions over the years, as have others. [5] Additional scholars have focused on reel archivists and themes of records, and archives, in espionage fiction. In the case of the former, this included arguments that film images of archivists can be negative to archivists and a risk to the profession, causing negative effects on archival professional identity and may result in potential researchers having "negative connotations about archives and archivists." For the latter, in such fiction, information is power, with stories often stating that documentation can reconstruct someone's personal identity and career, and compiling a large amount of information to learn about their enemy, while events and personal information are intertwined. Unsurprisingly, in such stories, archives are shown as repositories of institutional memory, even if they do not focus on the dilemmas that archivists face when torn between their duty to their employer and their duty to society. [6]
Additional scholars have reviewed films, novels, and TV series, finding common themes. Karen Buckley, in fall 2008, argued that these popular culture medium had stories, with archives and records, which equated protection of truth to protection of a record, made archival experiences interior and archival spaces closed, had lost or buried archives, or stated that information within records centers around "the search for self or truth." This inevitably leads into a strong division between real and fictional archives. [7] Arlene Schumland went further, studying images of archives and archivists "based on a reading of 128 novels", examining how these novels disseminate and perpetuate "many stereotypes of the archival profession." Others followed suit, examining issues surrounding the "image and stereotypes of archivists as presented in films", and arguing that archivists in those films "follow generally accepted stereotypes."
While archives, and archivists, continue to be portrayed poorly, and inaccurately, in fiction, in Star Wars and beyond, it remains important for archivists to tell the truth about the profession. This can, and should, go hand-in-hand with fights for unionization, better working conditions, and recognition, in order to make clear that archival work remains vital in this day and age.
© 2022-2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.
[2] This includes archivists in the webcomics Heirs of the Veil and Leif & Thorn. There's also a librarian named Emily Quackfaster who appears in an episode of DuckTales but works in a library. If you squinted, you could see Theoda and Pothina, who are two researchers who work at the Savior Institute, in Cleopatra in Space, as archivists, or George and Lance in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. There's also Mystique, otherwise known as Raven Darkhölme, who lost contact with her friend Destiny (also known as Irene Adler), who she found "working as an archivist in the Alamogordo nuclear research facilities in New Mexico." Additionally, a solo archivist / lone arranger named Filis appears in bonus material for the live-action TV series, Ultraman Taiga, while multiple episodes of Vatican Miracle Examiner feature an archivist.
[3] Personally, I have been focusing on Star Wars more myself, with recent posts positing that R2-D2 may be an accidental archivist, restricted records and record seizure in Star Wars Rebels, and an upcoming post about an archivist, in name only, in Star Wars Crimson Reign. There were also category on Wookieepedia for "archivists" in Star Wars, although it is hard to know how many are actually archivists.
[4] Doria, Gianna Penzo. Asterix, the Others, and the Archives: The Cinema perception of the archival profession (Bolgana, Italy: Filodiritto, 2022), 7, 16, 30, 32-39, 46-47, 52-58, 76.
[5] "Archivists in the Movies." Dispatches from the Field, Aug. 4, 2006; "Thankful Archivist." New Archivist, Nov. 24, 2009; Eagan, Daniel. "Film vs. Digital: Archivists Speak Out." Smithsonian, May 2, 2012; "Badass Archivists in Television and Movies: a Really Short List." The Society of American Archivists - UW Madison Student Chapter, Oct. 27, 2013; Lucy, Catherine. "A Critical Response to The Archivist (2015)." Solo, May 3, 2018. There are additional archivists who focused on archival themes in Paddington (2014) and use of archival records in comic books.
[6] Anne Daniel and Amanda Oliver. "Seeking an Identity: The Portrayal of Archivists in Film." Archives Society of Alberta Conference, Spring 2014; Gillis, Peter. "Of Plots, Secrets, Borrowers, and Moles: Archives in Espionage Fiction." Archivaria 9 (1979-80): 1, 5-8, 12-13. On page 13, Gillis writes that archivists have to temper a desire for secrecy and suppression with "the needs of research and scholarship".
[7] Buckley, Karen. "'The Truth is in the Red Files': An Overview of Archives in Popular Culture." Archivaria 66 (2008): 95-123.
