Family history, fiction, and the continuing crisis

This week, I will again focus on the COVID-19 crisis, but also my friend's recently published stories, family history, and much more!

Hello all! I hope you had a great week even with the continuing public health crisis. Without further ado, let me get on with my newsletter.

First and foremost, I’d like to mention my family history post, about my ancestor, Dora Mills, who died of tuberculosis in 1895. Of course, the current COVID-19 crisis is the same. Due to the understandable focus on public health, now is the perfect time to write about afflictions that killed or maimed your ancestors. It may be morbid to point this out, but I can see an opportunity to educate individuals about past epidemics, diseases, and whatnot. So there’s that. Secondly, I’d like to mention my friend’s new e-book, “Space-Time Fissures Through the Cosmos,” [dead link] with five of my friend’s stories published earlier this year. I’m only mentioning this e-book in this paragraph because archives are a central part, with scenes set in archives in chapters 2, 4, and 5. For instance, the fifth chapter has one character stridently point out to his son why libraries and archives are not the same. Also, libraries are mentioned throughout the book, especially in the third chapter where the protagonists meet a wise medical doctor who is also a librarian! He ends up helping them later on in the book. As such, I thought I’d share that. Writing stories like these fulfill what Samantha Cross, an archivist who I quoted in my April 18th newsletter, pointed out: “the more art produced by archivists, in whatever the format, the better our community is for it.” I truly believe that, and my friend’s stories are a manifestation of that belief.

Let me move onto some other stories from this past week. The first of these is about the organizing of a library union at UMD’s Hornbake Library. Others note how the current public health crisis could be opening the door to open-source textbooks, independent booksellers trying to make a go even as they face competition from Amazon, and applying for “non-traditional” library jobs. I found the stories about methods to disinfect cultural resources, a post by a person who argued passionately she was an archivist despite not having an MLIS which exposes the professional gatekeeping done by some in the profession, and David Ferriero’s post noting that the number of pages transcribed by citizen archivists and NARA staff is increasing, all very illuminating. While it was depressing to hear that some states are taking advantage of the public health access to make public records less accessible, or lack of open access to scientific research, I enjoyed reading Ferriero’s post about exhibits NARA is putting together to honor the passage of the 19th Amendment.

Apart from the stories I mentioned, I’d also like to highlight the story in BBC News about how Facebook is paying content moderators $52 million over mental health issues. People often forget, but every comment, post, and other interaction flagged on these social networks are not reviewed by nameless algorithms, but actual people. These are people not often recognized. I’m not sure if there are fewer people due to COVID-19 and more use of algorithms, but it is still important to note this. I’d like to give an honorable mention to a few posts on Jeannette Holland Austin’s “Yesterday Newsletter,” focused on genealogy exclusively, specifically about the origins of Georgia settlers, American Loyalists, and preserving old records.

That’s all for this week. I hope you all have a great ahead!

- Burkely