Archiving the FTP

The issue of archival has always been contentious within the theater community. Not only does there persist the question of how one goes about archiving theater (especially when centuries of iconic productions have already been lost to the ages), there are individuals who believe that theater isn’t meant to be preserved. The script is written down, they argue, and to leave future directors and actors any more traces of previous productions interferes in the creation of new art. To which a counterpoint is presented of, how else can the evolution of theatrical practices be examined? With this context, it isn’t a wonder why the Federal Theater Project became such a large target for controversy.

What these arguments come to a head on more than anything else is public accessibility. Theater is haunted by an air of elitism that doesn’t hang as heavy over art forms like music or film. The FTP wasn’t immune, even as certain projects sought to bridge this gap, thanks to internal conflicts of interest among the people running the show. Some wanted everything to remain within the professional circuit, while others insisted that rural American theater needed to experience its own revival. Archiving is much the same. There are those who believe the general public won’t appreciate the effort that went into both the productions themselves and the act of preserving them, classist issues of locking archived materials behind paywalls, and discourse over what “deserves” to be archived in the first place. All this dictates the way that future generations interact with what winds up preserved.

Interestingly, FTP productions like “the voodoo Macbeth” that won over the public were the ones which polarized critics and controversy. Efforts to revive community theater were similarly mixed – the infamous beaver communism play, for example, was being put on in schools. These were preserved, arguably to the best technological abilities of the late 1930s, through photographs, books, and other primary sources. But was all that able, or positioned, to survive the jump to digital archives? The cost-benefit of preserving authenticity or extending longevity isn’t a clear-cut issue. You can type a transcript of a news article, but that’s not the same experience as seeing the original newspaper, even if said newspaper is in very real danger of falling apart should it ever leave its climate-controlled glass box.

The FTP wasn’t the only project to dissent over what was “worth” preserving, and even what outlasts its creators doesn’t always fall into the hands of archivists eager to share. The controversies which surrounded the FTP are just as important a part of its legacy as the works that came from it, though. History is its own archive, and the FTP was a product as much as it was a producer. If all we tried to preserve of it were the “good” parts, would we really be doing it justice?

Blog Post 8

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.

GMU Special Collections and Archives

After our visit to the Special Collections, I felt like I better understood the role of archivists and their importance. I obviously knew who they were from our class discussions, but actually hearing the archivist talk about what they do and how much politics go into it, I was surprised. It makes sense that some people pay to get their item archived first, but that isn’t really a problem I would’ve thought of on my own until she explained it. I also had no frame of reference for how long it takes to archive these items, but hearing that it took 12 full time staff and 14 part time students 6 years to digitize 60,000 pictures gives me a whole new idea of how long this can take. Archivists protect a lot of history and I’m sure after hearing about the wide range of topics that the GMU Special Collections has that they’ve saved countless professors, grad students, and undergrad students in their search for items that help with their class or thesis, or papers. The general public could also use archives to learn more about a specific part of history or to learn more about a niche subject. Archives can help anyone find out more about their topic. However, in a lot of cases government records only include people or events they believe should be remembered so that affects who is and isn’t seen in the future, as well as that evidence being historical itself because it reflects the time period and the policies of the administration 1 . Unfortunately this means that a lot of history has been lost to us because a lot of minorities and their accomplishments of the past weren’t recorded as significant, even if they changed a lot of lives. It could also mean that their identity was left out, which changes the meaning of the work, or someone else took the credit, and the real creators name is lost. 

The archivist we met with talked about how they mostly archive photos, because it’s harder to digitize things like costumes or diagrams since those are more physical, and it’s harder to digitize documents, like the plays from the Federal Theater Project we looked at, since the paper is delicate and might rip or affect the materials it’s made of. However with all archivable items, the archivist also talked about how they have to be careful with copyright issues because those can be very complex and not always straightforward. Another issue with digitizing is how archivists preserve born-digital records-texts, images, and data created digitally 2 3. In the past they’ve been able to recreate the software and hardware that the items were originally created on, but as technology advances at a faster and faster rate it’s getting harder to emulate these archives and they’re going to have to figure out another way to preserve these important items.

After looking at the archives from the Federal Theater Project I feel like I understand more about the play we looked at than before. My group analyzed the playbill for the play “The Revolt of the Beavers” which is a play for children about sharing, but many were concerned that it had communist undertones. We were able to learn a lot about the play and from each other’s analysis. One person in my group pointed out that there were pig names, and that the pigs might represent the capitalists, while the beavers represented communists and were the protagonists of the story. We also talked about how they were definitely hand folded and most were made of cheap paper which reflected the economy of the time. If we can learn that much about a play just from the playbill, it’d be interesting to see what we can learn from even more archives and more analysis.

Blog Post #8

Archives provide first hand information about the past. They serve as primary sources and evidence of significant historical events for scholars. Archive also play a role when telling stories, increasing our sense of identity and understanding of cultures (King’s College, 2019). Archives are in many cases used to carry out research, create architectural designs, as well as demonstrate knowledge and development through literature. 

According to The Artifactual Elements of Born- Digital Records, author LeFurgy explains to readers that archivists engage in the process of emulation as a way to “persevere artifactual characteristics of born- digital archival collections”.

Commonly, archivists digitize records to facilitate access. Those digitized copies may be found in multiple locations, which in turn protect and maintain the state of the original copies from improper use and or physical damage such a wear, tear, and possible binding. 

Though, various factors are considered when deciding whether or not to digitize an archive. Some include but are not limited to; the size or dimension, the context, the quality, maintenance of digital files, and the cost.4https://www.google.com/amp/s/peelarchivesblog.com/2017/05/31/why-dont-archivists-digitize-everything/amp/[/efn_note]

In my opinion, the digitization of archives may affect our interpretations and could consequently impair our judgement concerning past events. Though we are presented with firsthand material, we may still lack the central idea surrounding the concept’s purpose and value. 

Visiting the Special Collections exhibit bettered my understanding of the Federal Theater Project. For example, I was able to explore the archives from MACBETH, a production by the Federal Theater Project’s Negro Unit. In the collection included various photographs of actors, actresses, extras, props, and even play- goers. Other collections pertaining the 30’s were also present.

Looking through the digitized copies gave me an insight on how advanced and well organized the Federal Theater Project was described to be. Prior to such, I could not have imagine that technologies of the 1930’s were quite similar to those used today. Each archive sparked my interest as they almost seemed unbelievable. I could not grasp the fact that I was exploring such things of the past better yet, experiencing each for myself as they were well kept and maintained.

“What Are Archives?”, Kings College Cambridge, accessed November 12, 2019, https://www.kings.cam.ac.uk/archive-centre/introduction-to-archives/a/1

“Why don’t archivists digitize everything?”, Archives @ PAMA, accessed November 12, 2019, https://peelarchivesblog.com/2017/05/31/why-dont-archivists-digitize-everything/


Blog post 8

In our visit to special collections last class we got to explore certain objects, pictures, clothing, etc. I have never heard of special collections before; I didn’t even know it existed, so this trip was very educational for me. It was very interesting to see all the different types of special collections and the values that they hold. For example, my group looked at a file of how portable theatres were beneficial to places that did not have their own theatres. This is just one special collection of thousands that exist. I really enjoyed looking into it.

Archivists play a very important role in special collections. In the interview titled “Bias, Perception, and Archival Praxis” with Thomas Padilla and Elvia Ramirez, they talk a lot about the importance of archives. Elvia says, “Archival work requires an ethics of care for the deeply personal and the deeply political.”. 5. This interview lets us know all that work that goes into the archival process. First off, archivists are someone who assesses whether a given piece of information is of value, then maintains and stores the information in the appropriate manner. Secondly, they have an important job of deciding whether a material should be digitized or not. They decide this by first seeing if the material can even be digitized, some objects that are more 3D like are not meant to be digitized because it takes away the meaning. However, digitizing a certain collection or material can make it much easier to access and explore. The con to digitizing is that with most items, you cannot get the full experience online. An archivist must decide that if the item is digitized, will it lose value or not. In the article by Susan Manus, “the Artifactual Elements of Born-Digital Records” she talks about the importance of preserving content and material. She says “while preserving the informational content of born-digital material requires its own distinct processes, preserving the artifactual elements of digital records a unique set of intellectual and technical challenges.”. 6.

The materials we reviewed in class provided me with information for the period of the Federal Theatre Project. It made me consider where the data came from and how it gained its importance. The documents that my group looked over help me gain knowledge on why they wanted the portable theatres to exist and why the encouraged it to happen. These small portable theatres were funded by the FTP and helped people gain interest in certain entertainment. I also learned from the sources the physical data differs from digital data, and that physical date is better because we are able to interact with it in person.

Archiving the FTP

Instead of holding a lecture at our normally assigned meeting place, last Wednesday our class had the opportunity to visit the Special Collections Research Center located at Fenwick Library and study firsthand a number of artifacts within this collection.

When our class began, we were introduced to the the collection’s research services coordinator Brittney Falter. During her presentation, Falter provided our class with information on archives (the locations where permanent records are held), archivists (those responsible for organizing, maintaining, and digitizing artifacts), and the politics that surrounds archiving records and artifacts.

Falter, informed our class that archivists hold priorities for archiving and maintaining artifacts. She stated that those artifacts of greatest priority are those which are deteriorating but these artifacts (although of great importance) may be given lesser priority based on outside factors. These factors include the ambitions of well-known or influential donors and the donations that they provide to the collection.

Prior to this event, our class was asked to read several articles pertaining to the subject of archiving. In an interview between Thomas Padilla and Elvia Arroyo-Ramirez entitled “Bias, Perception, and Archival Praxis,” the two discuss the biases that exist within archives. Arroyo-Ramirez informs Padilla that much of the bias that archivists struggle with is their own (much of which has developed from their own Western culture)7. To help eliminate this bias, Arroyo-Ramirez suggests that archivists must learn to recognize their own biases and work to eliminate them from their work.

The artifacts that our class examined during our class period were from the FTP. Our small group examined flyers for a production of Hamlet that was performed in Chicago, Illinois, in 1939. It was interesting to consider the effects of digitizing these artifacts, as some flyers contained notes that were not present on others. Our small group wondered what information would be lost had only one of these flyers been digitized.

In her article “The Artifactual Elements of Born-Digital Records, Part 1” Susan Manu states that some of the appeal of artifacts is viewing them from our own time period.8 In the case of our small group’s flyers, I wonder how an archivist would go about archiving the large, digital displays advertising performances in Times Square.

Our class visit to the Special Collections Research Center was a wonderful experience. Seeing these artifacts in person and analyzing them gave me a unique perspective into the work that archivists perform and the challenges that they face.

The Archives

Oh say can you see the funding for Archives dropping like flies.

Archives and thier place in the continuation of historical memory are incredibly prominent, but my biggest takeaway from our trip to the GMU archives is that thier funding is not nearly what it needs to be. So today I’m breaking out my soap box and giving y’all a speech as to why Archives are important.

Archives are important because of their valuable resource to scholars. Whether it is online via digital records or in person via physical records archives provide something that other resources can not maintain, consistency.

Whether the object in question is a puppet or a pamphlet their main goal is to ensure that that piece is kept in it’s exact state when first in thier possession. Unlike other resources the archive is set to maintain everything, whether bought or donated, it receives. For scholars this allows for a confident and necessary physical record. Rather than just having secondary sources talking about something scholars can take a critical re-evaluation of things through the primary sources. Then digitized archive give them a similar means of looking at primary sources. The general public likewise can utilize this resource to satisfy their curiosity.

However the other side of the story is the tediousness of digital archives.

With digital archiving their’s a certain process of deciding what is digitized, and how it’s digitized. Do they digitized objects other than documents? Which of the documents and objects do they document? The answers to these questions are totally up to the archivist and the technology they have at their disposal. To digitization a 3D object they might just take a picture as it’s digital fingerprint, but then you lose the necessary elements such as touch and spacial comparison out of the picture.

Via the Archive the Federal Theater Project becomes clearer. Their plays, costumes, and puppets are kept alive through the Archive’s efforts. From the beginning they were criticized for their messages, criticized for their goals, and policed with bureaucracy. But I, a scholar, could see the costumes, feel the puppets, and enjoy the pamphlets through historical memory. By the Archives the Federal Theater Project’s efforts are not lost into oblivion.

Special Collections – Christina O’Farrell

Getting to experience the Special Collections archive at Mason was a really cool experience. I had no idea that archive existed and that our campus has access to such great historical resources. The significance and role of the archive for scholars is to assist them in research that they’re doing, along with helping them gain more knowledge along the way. Many scholars do projects, so these archives are the best way for them to retain that information. The general public’s significance with archives is that many people have a general interest in archives, or some people have archives of their own to give to scholars. Museums such as the Smithsonian provides those in the general public who have an interest in archives a place to go and see a lot of different archives.

Archivists make decisions on whether to digitize materials on not based on their significance. If a certain material is in high demand, digitizing it is a great idea because it makes it more accessible instead of having a lot of people having to travel to a certain location to see it. This affects our interaction with the materials by changing the way it might look. Digitizing doesn’t allow someone to see the same features that one might see by viewing it in person. I think seeing materials in person is a better way to really experience the materials because you can pick up on so many more details.

My understanding of the FTP changed after viewing the materials we saw in class by giving me a better understanding of the different plays that people on along with how normal it was to take a lot of pictures of the actors. 9 I didn’t expect there to be as many pictures of the actors, the set, and the audience than there was. It made me realize that it was really important for people in the FTP to be able to document their plays and the entire experience of it all. I also realized how pretty their costumes were that they wore. I’ve been to a fair amount of plays nowadays, and the costumes in the pictures I saw had a lot more character and beautiful design to them. The materials my table evaluated was from Macbeth in Harlem, or the Voodoo Macbeth 10 I remember learning about that play in class, so getting to see materials from it in person was really cool. The costumes that the people wore were absolutely beautiful. Getting to experience the materials from the FTP really brought what we learned to life and I appreciated it a lot.

Works Cited:

“Federal Theatre: Melodrama, Social Protest, and Genius  :  Articles and Essays  :  Federal Theatre Project, 1935 to 1939  :  Digital Collections  :  Library of Congress.” The Library of Congress. Accessed November 12, 2019. https://www.loc.gov/collections/federal-theatre-project-1935-to-1939/articles-and-essays/federal-theatre-melodrama-social-protest-and-genius/.

“The Play That Electrified Harlem  :  Articles and Essays  :  Federal Theatre Project, 1935 to 1939  :  Digital Collections  :  Library of Congress.” The Library of Congress. Accessed November 12, 2019. https://www.loc.gov/collections/federal-theatre-project-1935-to-1939/articles-and-essays/play-that-electrified-harlem/.

Industrial and Rural Life: 1930s

Throughout the 1930s there was a lot of adversity. Adversity for small-time farmers just trying to survive, city-folk who were constantly looking for work in a dying economy, and adversity for the government to overcome the many travesties of the Great Depression. There were issues that affected all walks of American and global life, such as the stock market crash in 1929. 11 As a result of the stock market crash, not only were American farmers and industrial workers hit with a catastrophic economic decline, but also most countries in the world. For industrial workers, one of the problems was that factories could not provide adequate wages for their employees so they could not acquire laborers. This led to a deep decline in industrial production and deflation in prices, high unemployment rates, mass panic and a sharp increase in poverty and homelessness. On Voyant, I targeted the term “Homeless” and found that “Subway Stuff” mentioned homelessness on the subway trains at night which is still happening today. 12. Throughout my research on Voyant, I noticed a heavier correlation with the terms “men”, “jobs”, and “work” than the terms “woman”, “job” and “work” within the articles pertaining industrial living but the opposite correlation between them when looking at rural living related articles.

This was interesting because the way of life that this correlation portrays is not only that it was much harder for women to obtain jobs in the 1930s but also today when women face much more adversity and negative stereotyping than men obtaining jobs and in the workplace. It was also interesting because it made me think about if the socio-cultural way of rural living is a more advanced in the way of gender equality. By comparing these terms on Voyant and reading the articles, I was able to draw conclusions to the fact that rural living is more advanced in gender norms and equality in not only everyday life, but also in working environments.

Coming from a background of rural living and farm life myself and noticing this opposite correlation among rural living, I looked more deeply at these articles to find information. In the article “A Farming Preacher”, 13 the man interviewed mentioned working together and providing on the farm every day with his wife, and the children doing their share; feeding the animals, cleaning the house and doing laundry once they were home from school. By adding the term “farm” to the list of target words, I confirmed that in the articles pertaining to rural living there was a stronger correlation between the terms “women” and “work” meaning that in rural lifestyle the ideals of equal opportunity and ‘everyone does their share’ were more prominent.

Special Collections and The Federal Theatre Project

The Federal Theatre Project has been one of the most interesting WPA projects we’ve studied so far. Knowing that the George Mason “Special Collections Research Center began operation originally as the repository for the records of the Federal Theatre Project” further instilled my interest in the project.14 Going back to one of our earlier classes we discussed what could be gained or lost through the digitization of materials. An example of what is lost can be found in Ian Milligan’s article where he talks about the impacts of the Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star being digitized. Before digitization most newspapers were cited around the same amount. However, after the Toronto Star was digitized, it was cited far more frequently than its non-digitized counterparts. Due to its digitization making it so easily accessible, other sources such as the Ottawa Citizen were being ignored, creating an unnecessary hierarchy of sources.15 The special collections opens up so many research opportunities as it makes studying documents and archives easy and accessible. Although it may not be as easy as the Library of Congress or other online sources, being able to do a quick search and have documents broken down by box and folder makes finding them easy to find and access. Being able to actually see these documents in real life also brings about an entirely new feeling to the document. It makes them and the events of the time feel more real and not just a random part of history.

My understanding of the Federal Theater Project before our classes was that it was similar to many of the other WPA projects as it was intended to increase the employment rate of a group of people, actors in this instance, during the depression. However, after last week, I now understand that it had a much greater cultural impact than just creating jobs for the unemployed. The Theatre Project gave a voice to previously underrepresented artists such as the African American community, promoting diversity in the arts. The all-black version of Macbeth, the “Voodoo Macbeth, solidified the shaky reputation of the Federal Theatre Project.”16 Although controversial, this project, in my opinion, was probably one of the most progressive and important for American culture and society as it completely changed the future of American theater.

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