Archives serve valuable roles in society, not only for scholars but also for the general public. They curate collections based around specialized topics, to provide an accessible wealth of resources for the consumer. Rather than functioning in the manner of a museum—which tend to only show the highlights of already-published research—or a library with copies of published books—archives collect primary source materials pertinent to a specific set of topics and preserve them. Often, these items are one-of-a-kind, so preservation and proper curation are of the utmost importance, as is the treatment and organization of the items once they are incorporated into the collections. In order to make things more accessible for the general public, archives often digitize items deemed suitable for electronic viewing and exhibition.
Archive collections are often divided into series, based on topic. From there, they are further prioritized based on their research value (i.e. whether the topic is pertinent to any studies at the University or organization running the archive, and whether they seem useful to future studies); the identity of the donor (i.e. whether the donor was an important alum or beneficiary of the archive and its parent organization); and how notable the source is (i.e. whether it is a unique collection of primary sources connected to major events or movements, national or local history, etc., or whether it is something smaller-scale like a collection of old personal photographs and documents from the donor’s family history). Collections have to be completely processed before anything can be digitized, and this prioritization comes into play during that processing phase. Afterwards, materials are selected to be digitized. Not everything in any given collection is necessarily useful in a digital format. While some things, like photographs, might be useful in digital form, paper documents are sometimes better examined in physical copies, as it is easier to understand important details such as the scale of the item, details that might be rendered illegible onscreen, and the physical material factors of the item. Manuscripts are usually left un-digitized for these reasons, as people are generally willing to come in to examine them by hand, and acknowledge that it would be easy to miss important details and material factors otherwise. Other examples of items better left un-digitized are three dimensional items, which would not be properly represented through digital photography. While computer screens allow for engagement with a wide variety of sources, there are times when the physical item has more to tell than merely what one is able to see, and for those reasons many things are left un-digitized in the archives for scholars and researchers to interact with in-person. When there are copyright issues involved, digitization usually takes much longer than usual, as it is necessary to obtain permission to upload the information, as opposed to merely storing it in the archive itself.
In class, we had the chance to examine primary sources from the Federal Theater Project in collaboration with the George Mason archives, and in our small group discussions came to a few important conclusions. First, we conducted a brief historical analysis of the items (my group centered on Hamlet stage production flyers from 1939), discussing how the artwork and subjects of the items engaged with themes from our class readings, such as the optimism and escapism that accompanied an otherwise grim point in American life. Beyond the specific example of Hamlet—a play with a twisting plot line, with a grim tone mimicking that of daily existence—we found that the overall initiative of the Federal Theater Project engaged with the ideas behind the movement for public art as a whole, in that it created a point of involvement in American communities as well as providing a low-cost form of entertainment and escapism in a time when that was more than necessary. The ability to observe the physical forms of the items rather than the digital forms gave insights into the manner that the flyers may have been posted or distributed, an idea of scale that would have been lost in digital form, and important scribbled-on details in one of the three otherwise identical flyers which gave the important indication that these flyers came from Chicago, Illinois. After using the archive collections, I felt like I had a much better understanding of the motivations behind the Federal Theater Project, and the work that was produced by it.
Senie, Harriet F., and Sally Webster. Critical Issues in Public Art Content, Context, and Controversy. Smithsonian Inst. Press, 2005.
George Mason University Archives and Special Collections.
