Fiction writing, archival silences, libraries, family history, and more!
Hello everyone! In the first newsletter of this year, I'll talk about the latest archives, libraries, genealogy, and history news, and beyond, including the new Hilda film, starring a witchy librarian
Happy 2022! At the tail end of 2021, my good friend published two fictional works: “Sabine, the Intriguing Orange-Haired Woman, and the Family Mystery” and “Argh Mateys!: Cass, Space Pirates, and the Corona Crisis.” The latter story begins a series titled The Corona Chronicles, following the story of Cass who returns to a kingdom, Corona, where she will reunite with a princess she once loved while invisible virus, which has caused a crisis in Corona, has put that princess in jeopardy. My friend said they had the story finished for a while, but finished the first part after splitting it in half. And, yesterday my good friend published another story entitled “Rose, Sage, Parsley, Thyme, and the Magical Space Station Adventure” and has plans to publish more fictional works this year! Best of luck to them in their endeavors!
I published reviews on another one of my favorite webcomics, a recent Simpsons episode, a post noting recent media with libraries and librarians, and my post reviewing LGBTQ representation in animation in 2021 was published. I was glad to see that Darunni thanked me for reviewing She’s A Keeper, a webcomic I’d recommend you all read. With that, let me move onto the rest of this “too long for email” newsletter.
There was a lot of news about archives this past week. For instance, ICA issued a call for articles about archives and climate change in submissions to a special issue of Comma. Ruth Xing wrote in The American Archivist Reviews Portal about teaching with primary sources remotely. Liladhar R. Pendse wrote in American Libraries on efforts to save Afghanistan’s at-risk websites reportedly “under threat of erasure by the Taliban.” The Mississippi Department of Archives and History launched family genealogy fellowships. Sam Cross reviewed archives in season 1 of Hacks and where the show goes wrong with its interpretation.
There was a thread by Amalia S. Levi on archival silences, mentioning a person who left a “rebellious archival footprint,” a scholar who assessed “data ethics & power balances when using digitized material,” scholars who understood how missing data can “affect network analysis,” and erasure of people in archival records. She also noted “ethical commitments for reparative justice work” when doing linked data work, records which dehumanized people, “power asymmetries in colonial catalogues,” how archives are “oppressive by design,” how big data can amplify and perpetrate “gaps, omissions and uncertainties, inherent in archives,” and work to “rectify harmful description & enact social justice.” People responded by pointing out that “Nazi looted and Holocaust-linked references for Jewish art collectors” is often erased, thanking her for her thread, talking about process of archival silences, and noting the liberatory memory work.
Otherwise, it was interesting to read about improving archival description, efforts to make materials available online, the filing cabinet and 20th century information infrastructure, a call last year for archivists in Ontario to “make archival material holdings related to the residential school system available to Indigenous communities” while recognizing the “power held by records, information, and knowledge.” This connects to Dorothy Berry’s article on the burdens of archives, digital access, where she notes that “the archives…[exists] outside institutional repositories and representing marginalized peoples” but archives as institutions “accept their woeful, hegemonic conception of their holdings” while calling for re-imagining the ideas of provenance, original order, collective control/description, and permanence. I thought it was intriguing that she challenges the idea of “digital collection development…as a liberatory access provider.” This connects to Cara Moore Lebonick writing about personnel records held by the National Archives at St. Louis, Sam Cross arguing that podcasts should be considered another venue of the oral history tradition, and a collections survey project to begin the alignment of the University Libraries' Special Collections and University Archives Department at the University of Nevada, Reno with the Protocols for Native American Archival Materials.
Apart from this were assorted posts on /r/Archivists on ways to preserve whole notebooks, mold or roots on records, mediums that are most at risk for degradation, working at a tiny non-profit community museum, whether the academy of certified archivists is BS or not, and whether photos in Warren Commission report are in the public domain. I enjoyed reading about Miss Quackfaster, the archivist in DuckTales who takes her job very seriously, even threatening characters for “disrespecting the archives,” with Sam Cross describing her as a “matronly woman” in the original comics, the keeper of “the McDuck family history and records at Scrooge’s Money Bin” in the animated series but she is a guide. Unfortunately, the episode she is in, The Great Dime Chase,” confuses the words “library” and “archive” if they mean the same thing, even though they do not. Quackfaster is described on the fandom site for the show as holding “the archaic and bizarre traditions surrounding the archives in very high regard.” That doesn’t sound very positive at all!
That brings me to libraries. Hack Library School had noted 10 fun and fascinating rare books terms, and also reviewed a guide to games and gamers, and gave reading recommendations for January. The rare books terms were: Abecedarium (or alphabet books), Acephalous book, Babewynes, Bowdlerized, Cockled, Fleurons (or printer’s flowers, or dingbats), Leporello (or orihan), Orphans and widows, Tête-bêche, and Salesman’s dummy (or sample book). I didn’t know all those books before this, but now I do.
American Libraries had a rash of articles this month. Some reviewed 2021, while others focused on censorship efforts at libraries and U.S. schools, the newsmaker Harvey Fierstein, claims that financial measures and strategies are paving the way for a stronger ALA, an uptick in so-called “First Amendment audits,” a roundup of library-related referenda in the U.S., with results “positive for libraries in nearly 90% of cases,” and celebration of ALA–Allied Professional Association (ALA-APA)’s 20 years. There were other articles about making library work visible, mental health in the library, evaluating how patrons engage with your library, growing ALA’s impact through connectedness and teamwork, stats celebrating the platonic, romantic, and civic love found in books and libraries, and introducing Liblearnx. The latter would ultimately replace the ALA’s Midwinter Meeting & Exhibits event.
The Library of Congress (LOC) had a number of posts. Some shared stories of researchers and interviewed interns, while others explained the congressional reactions to the 1918 flu pandemic, the newly scanned maps of 2021, and building the library’s collections. Others focused on the Village of Ripoll in Spain, a book from Henry Houdini’s collection about hocus pocus and witchcraft, the Librarian-in-Residence Sarah Hesler, a new year’s greeting from the Law Librarian of Congress, newly processed, acquired, and/or digitized collections of LOC in the past year, and remote interns who worked for the Preservation Research and Testing Division in 2021.
Apart from this, I was overjoyed to hear that 77% of 460 Baltimore County library workers voted for form a union, joining the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) in a mail-in ballot election, and it will hopefully push management to ensure better working conditions for librarians in the system. I could say the same about librarians pushing for legislation on e-books, local libraries hiring social workers, a tool library in Chicago planning to move as they run out of space for donations, large college libraries across the world, and the New Zealand National Library donating 600,000 books to the Internet Archive to be digitized.
Even with all this, there are challenges. A school district in Bucks County, Pennsylvania removed LGBTQ books from libraries, there is a fight over the Niles Public Library, and a for-profit company named Library Systems & Services privatizing libraries wherever they can. That company is run by the same people who make those awful Scantron tests, while the ALA has been mum on the subject. The latter is an interview by the article’s author, Caleb Nichols, who wrote on the subject for Truthout last fall. There’s also April Hathcock’s article arguing in favor of fair use and its use for social justice purposes, her article about decolonizing social justice work, and how marginalized people need safe spaces of their own.
A new issue of Greta the Red Wolf said that a librarian in the town, named Henry Tolbert or “Papa,” would be featured in future episodes. There is also a new HBO drama show apparently in the works titled The Time Traveler’s Wife, with the same characters, Clare and Henry as the original 2003 book by Audrey Niffenegger, and the 2009 film. It follows the love story and then marriage of these two characters, a marriage complicated by Henry’s time travel. In the book and film, Henry is a reference librarian! I expect this will continue in this new drama, which I’m guessing will begin airing this year.
Apart from this are librarians like Vivio Takamachi in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS, who lands a job as librarian working at the Infinity Library, and an episode CXXVII of Kiichi and the Magic Books, including a man name Mototaro who “runs a traveling rental library…[and] villagers gather round to read them.” Both are manga. They are different from Lilith in Yamibou, Dalian in The Mystic Archives of Dantalian, and Akane Mishima, who works as a library aide at Seitetsu Gakuin High School in Kampfer. In addition to this, Lynzee Loveridge wrote about six librarians she called “dangerous yet dashing,” adding that while the “sexy librarian” stereotype is a “character staple,” there is nothing better “than a bookworm that'll take you down intellectually and in combat.”
With that I’ll move onto genealogy. I liked listening to an episode of Genealogy Adventures about researching enslavers and reframing the narrative, which interviews Adrienne Fikes, reading about what you can expect to find in Italian cemeteries, insight into what your Irish ancestors (if you have any) did, and being thankful for the “unsung” genealogy heroes of the past. Others praised the role of genealogy societies in offering the opportunity to break brick walls, DNA testing, books about genetic genealogy, and the internationalization of genealogy, and a secret society.
There were also posts about organizing family history photographs, a family history society, and an article arguing that “film and literature tend to underestimate the role of geography in our lives,” relying on stereotypes and shortcuts, not depicting its importance accurately. There was a guide to genealogy research, a post about forensic genealogy, organizing your genealogy research, and a FOIA request.
Genealogy journal had articles about land, belonging and the politics, family photographs and resisting U.S. colonial amnesias, family and amnesia, grieving and Early Nova Scotian Gaelic laments. Others were about listening to Kānaka Maoli perspectives on historical and on-going losses in Hawai’i and crafting a narrative of belonging that inspirits Indigenous–settler relationships.
There were a number of history-related articles of note in the last week. Some focused on resources about racist violence, exploring systemic racism, defining history for the public, and opposing a resolution along with other legislative efforts to “restrict education about racism in American history.” Others talked about what it means to think historically, lessons that education campaigns for HIV/AIDs holds for COVID-19, Victorian fashion and competition in a rotten row, and wartime incarceration of deaf Japanese Americans. Of note were articles about Mary, Queen of Scots, 1838 expulsion of the Cherokee Nation from Georgia, the first woman executed by the federal government: Mary Surratt, strolling across historic swinging bridges, how civil rights jazz “tied Black arts to the Black freedom struggle,” and a museum repatriating a Lakota Chiefs shirt.
Smithsonian magazine had articles on Sidney Poitier’s legacy, teaching a more complete picture of Martin Luther King, Jr., an ancient dog statue uncovered at a Roman construction site, outdoor schooling, an exclusive excerpt from the diary of someone present at the death of Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Garfield, men who changed Lincoln’s mind on equal rights, the history of the StairMaster, and how that an Iraqi site of Assur, ancient history stands at risk of destruction. Journal of the American Revolution wrote about competing captivity narratives, Thaddeus Kosciuszko, a story of faith and conspiracy in revolutionary America, the exclusion of Madison’s 18th Amendment, enslaved women and their fight for freedom in that America, and the bloody scout.
There are additional articles which don’t easily fall into other parts of this newsletter. Smithsonian magazine had articles about how America’s primeval forests are a “powerful new tool against climate change,” how beavers are reshaping the Arctic tundra, some of the 552 species described by London’s Natural History Museum, how algorithms discern our mood based on what we write online, and an unveiled portrait at London’s National Gallery. Other articles were about the White tern who is thriving in a big city, whether methane-spewing microbes could be living in the depths of a subsurface ocean, a boozy comet’s mysterious heat source offering clues to how planets like Earth obtain water, the eruption of a mud volcano in Azerbaijan, fun facts about black widows spiders, and artwork from Picasso uncovered in a Maine closet 50 years later.
CBR had articles on underrated animated series from 2021, and why English translations of manga are not completely accurate, with business reasons factoring into their English translations. In the first case, I was glad to see Helluva Boss highlighted, although I wasn’t as sure about The Freak Brothers, and have not yet watched Centaurworld, King of Atlantis, and Super Crooks. In the second case, I haven’t watched The Detective Is Already Dead, Inuyasha, Maison Ikkoku, or the manga associated with those, but I have watched Komi Can't Communicate and Adachi to Shimamura.
Adotas had articles about being polyamorous, and problems with monogamy. This connected to articles in Psychology Today and St. George News. There were assorted articles explaining the setting of Encanto, NYPL remembering Sidney Poitier, a personal account of asserting personal identity, and a person asserting they are pansexual. Others talked about racism in fandom, an overview of online learning sites, the difference between museum digital programs and projects, learning and unlearning, and issues with intersectionality shared by Hathcock. She also wrote about how one’s trauma is not a thought experiment on oppressive empathy and the importance of safe spaces for LGBTQ and marginalized people.
The Nib had wonderful illustrations about a bloated military, anti-racism, White supremacy, lockdown snacks, misleading marketing, people complaining about getting fired for stealing and setting fires, questions for childless women, and how multiple and overlapping “addiction epidemics are affecting the LGBTQ community.” Others focused on people dismissing the storming of the Capitol as a lie, “real talk” about the pandemic, fur-lined beanies and coats slowly gaining social acceptance again, right to an unfair trial, the politics of batteries and lithium (the government in Bolivia was even overthrown because of it, in part), scamming, staying safe during a snowstorm, and having a kitten in an apartment. Even so, COVID has hit Europe’s industry pretty hard and San Francisco still has its ban on fur selling and others say trapping / fur prices are waning, and push back from clergy.
That’s all for this week! Hope you have a good week ahead!
- Burkely