Silences & Biases
Silences & Biases
Embedded Files
What are archival silences?
What are archival silences?
Not all voices, historic events, communities, or memories are documented within the archival records kept in repositories. These gaps in representation within the historical record are known as archival silences.
Visit What We Don’t Have, a digital exhibit created by archivists and librarians at Carnegie Mellon University, which explores and addresses archival silences within their collections. What campus communities or activities at UC Santa Cruz do you think should be represented in the archives that may not be? How would you go about finding out?
There are many reasons why archival silences exist.
There are many reasons why archival silences exist.
Reasons include:
long held institutional practices that value and preserve legacies of racial, gender and class privilege
implicit biases of those who control whose stories are preserved and whose are not
fires, wars, or other destructive acts - intentional or otherwise
privileging of certain modes of memory over others (illuminated manuscripts over oral traditions, for example)
the inability of those in power to establish trust among communities who wish to maintain control of their own memories
American journalist Joseph Levy was the New York Times correspondent for the Middle East from the 1920s through 1944. His correspondence, photographs, and other papers document his perspective on events and politics of the Middle East and Eastern Europe in the first half of the 20th century. (Joseph Levy Papers, MS.275)
Archivists now actively and critically address the part that biases and white supremacy have played in past collecting practices. At many archives, they strive to recognize and acknowledge archival silences and biases and share information on actions they are taking to improve practices. Visit UCSC’s Statement on Harmful Language in Archival Description (or one of these other archival repositories’ statements), and consider these questions while reading the statement you’ve selected:
What does the statement acknowledge about silences or biases?
How do the writers of the statement describe their actions to address the silences or biases?
What impression does the statement make about the archival repository’s commitment to anti-racist work?
What questions does the statement leave you with?
Keep biases and silences in mind while researching.
Keep biases and silences in mind while researching.
Consider the perspective and biases of the creators of archival collections you study. What might the record creators have tried to ignore or wanted to amplify within their stories? And how might you find other perspectives on the same subject or event?
Remember that archival collections and repositories are shaped by the people who work with them. Think about what biases might be at play.
Always remember that archival collections never tell complete stories about the past. Think about whose voices are missing and whose are prominently featured and described, and why that might be. Expand your thinking about kinds of records or places to turn to find more perspectives, and address these gaps and silences as part of your research.
Be aware of how your own assumptions or biases - about a record creator or an archival collection - could affect your own analysis and critical response while researching.
Elizabeth Campbell posed for her portrait atop a giant turtle during an eclipse expedition to Flint Island in 1911. She worked to manage and support the eclipse-viewing travels of her husband (and Lick Observatory director) William Campbell. (Lick Observatory Records, Series 7: Photographs, UA.036.Ser.07)
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