cRITCAL ARCHIVAL STUDIES

Main concept #1: The archive is a source of power

What is an Archive?

A western philosophical perspective

(pay particular attention to the first 5 or so minutes of this video)

"The history of the archive is the history of recording, but for every recording there is also a loss, something not included, an absence."

The word archive has its roots in the Greek word arkhē meaning: "to govern, to control, to authorize"

A Critial Archival Perspective

If your history wasn't recorded, did you exist?

"History is, in fact, a series of strategically curated decisions; decisions that have the ability to uplift some or silence others. Those decisions are ... still decisions. Herein lies the impact and power of bias and privilege to create entire silenced lanscapes of people-groups entirely based on the decision of being included or excluded from history-making."

What are critcal archival studies?

Read the following article: Critical Archival Studies: An Introduction

Then, reflect on the following questions:

How would you define Critical Archival Studies based on the reading?
Why do they believe critical theory is important for the practice of archiving?
How do you understand the role and responsibilities of an archivist?

Main concept #2: tHE ETHICS OF ARCHIVAL WORK

Activity:

Brainstorm or journal a written-response (or series of bullet points) based on the following prompts:

Scenario 1:

- Peek into the back of your closet(s), desk drawers, under-bed storage, basement, attic, trunk of your vehicle. What do you find there? Why are those items there?
- Let's continue that scenario: you're moving to a new place and have to pack up all your worldly possessions - what do you plan to keep? Why?

Scenario 2:

- Open the photo application on your phone, personal computer, or other device. Find the oldest picture in your camera roll.
- Why did you take that picture? What story would you tell about that picture to someone you do not know?
- Would you want the general public to see that photo in 50, 75, or 100 years from now?
- Let's continue that scenario: your phone company / large tech company that manages your data plan decides to charge $1 per photo in your device's storage. You have to downside a photo library of 5,000+ photos/videos over the last 7 years. How would you organize this collection? Which photos would you save? Where would you save them? How would you find them at a later date?

Final questions:

How did you feel when reflecting on how to store, organize, and preserve materials connected to your own life?
How would you want someone else to approach the process of storing, categorizing, and preserving materials connected to your life?
What ethical choices or values would you want that person or group of people to take in the process?

After completing the above activity, watch "Memory Work as Care Work", reflect on the following questions:

How would you define "memory work"?
How can we understand memory work as care work?
Why is intention and care important in the practice of archiving?
How do these archivists understand the importance of having community members involved in the process of archiving?

Main concept #3: Applying Critical Archival Studies in the dIGITAL Sphere

Listen to the podcast interviewing Dr. Meredith D. Clark: Digital Archives
Read or listen to the NPR story about Dr. Clark's work "She's trying to archive Black Twitter. It's a delicate and imperfect task"

From NPR: "She's Trying to Archive Black Twitter"

The power of that preservation is making sure that accurate narratives are told. There are so many instances where people might have forgotten about the truth of how something unfolded. One that sticks out in my mind is that, recently, there was coverage that made reference to Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, signing legislation to take down the Confederate flag over that state's Capitol following the massacre of the Emanuel Nine. And I took issue with that reporting because it erased the work of Bree Newsome and her comrades in actually scaling the flagpole at the state Capitol and taking that flag down. And without the witnessing that folks were able to do on Twitter, that narrative might be lost. And I think that that is just one reflection of many stories that require us to have plenty of evidence to make sure that they are told correctly. - Meredith Clark

Reflect on the follow questions:

Do you think it is important to archive the mundane and everyday ways people communicate online?
What are some of the potential challenges of archiving digital media, such as social media posts?
How does the practice of archiving change when we start to view people’s posts as artifacts and people’s social media accounts as archives? Should we adopt this perspective?

Activity: Analyzing Archives

Look at the Library of Congress Digital Collections: https://www.loc.gov/collections/
- What stands out?
- What is there?
- How is the content organized?
- How would you describe the values embedded in these collections?
- What is at least one overarching narrative you can discern from these archives?

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