Archives are central to the work of Historians. They provide access to records, memory, knowledge, and more. “Who gets to be remembered and historicized by way of record creation?”1 Arroyo-Ramirez argues that record keeping and creation is an act of power in itself. Just as there is no raw data, there is no neutrality in archives. In Silencing the Past, Michael Rolph Trouillot argues that the making of archives is how the silencing of a particular people or event in history occurs. The silencing of a people can be seen most distinctly in ex-colonies and modern-day settler states. We need to be more critical of how power plays a role in the creation of historical narratives and this needs to ensue at the archives.
The digitization of archives is great because it can potentially increase the scope of people who have access to historical data, and in doing so, it can also allow for an increased awareness of the politics behind archives. As we talked about in our visit to the Special Collections center, archivists decide to digitize materials based on their popularity, quality, and feasibility. Although the digitization of archival materials can be advantageous, I can’t say that is the case for all the materials in an archive. The Thomas Jefferson Library exhibit in the Library of Congress is a great example that shows how physical artifacts, whether real or constructed, can play a role in influencing our interpretations of people and events.2
I’m grateful for our visit to the Special Collections Center because it helped me contextualize the controversy of the Federal Theater Project. It was only after looking at the program for the “Revolt of the Beavers” that I really understood how anti-intellectualism and fear had perpetuated the controversy of the FTP. The children’s program had a cartoon drawing of a beaver on the cover, yet it was used by the House un-American Activities Committee as evidence that Hallie Flanagan was promoting communist ideals. Holding the physical copy of the program and imagining the HUAC using the same children’s program (with the cartoon beaver cover) in court was a humbling experience.
- Elvia Arroyo-Ramirez, Bias, Perception, and Archival Praxis, https://acrl.ala.org/dh/2017/09/13/archivalpraxis/
- Bill Lefurgy, The Artifactual Elements of Born-Digital Records, Part 2, https://blogs.loc.gov/thesignal/2011/12/the-artifactual-elements-of-born-digital-records-part-2/
