NARA's Seattle facility, fictional works, archives, libraries, and beyond
This week I'll talk about a recent review I published in I Love Libraries, a mention of one of my articles in a lawsuit, a new story from my friend featuring a cool steampunk archivist, and more!
Hello everyone! I hope you are all having a good week. I’d like to report some wonderful news before moving into the rest of the newsletter. Earlier this week, Nico Colaleo, the creator of an animated web series titled Too Loud, praised my recent review of the show in I Love Libraries and how it represents libraries and librarians in a positive light, calling it “super cool…surprisingly meticulous, very thoughtful…[and] kind.” I was so happy to see that! Today, I found out that the Attorney General of Washington State, cited my article in their lawsuit to stop the closure of NARA’s Seattle facility. I’m glad that the articles I’ve been writing are making an impact! I’ve put together a nice graphic that shows all the groups that have joined this lawsuit, which are mostly indigenous groups, but also historians, museums, and other interested parties, for those who are interested. Finally, I’d like to mention my friend’s newest fictional work, which includes a non-binary Black archivist named Mx. Lawlor and describes steampunk-themed archives. In the story, the archivist shows the protagonists around the reading room and explains that the archives hold inactive records that have “a continuing, and long-term, historical value.” Along with lines in the story about how wearing white gloves is not needed to handle records, the archives ultimately becomes a crime scene of sorts by the end of the story. My friend said that their next fictional work will feature archives as well, even more prominently than this story. With that, let me move on with the rest of my newsletter.
Let’s start with archives. The American Archivist Reviews Portal has a post about the Syrian Archive, the East Tennessean talked about the Archives of Appalachia, the News Tribune noted how the Missouri State Archives is going virtual for student’s trips, and the Franklin County, Pennsylvania commissioners announced the kick-off of Phase II of an Archives Project. Caitlin Hucik wrote about finding family in images of liberation at Buchenwald on The Unwritten Record and some archivists interviewed Heather Briston, University Archivist at UCLA while Margot Note published posts on acquisition, appraisal, and a collections management system. This connects to what one archivist notes: that “digitization is not digital preservation.” Another archivist, Erin Lawrimore, adds that unless you have a preservation plan in place, you can’t call something you have an “archives.” I’ll agree with that for sure. I’d like to end this section by pointing to my recent post which highlighted two archivists in webcomics and noting a post by the SAA’s Electronic Records Section trying to answer a question as to whether physical custody of digital archives is possible.
With that, we get to libraries. Hack Library School talked about a student membership in a professional library association and making the right decision while The Arcadiana Advocate talked about the Lafayette Parish library. They noted how the library director resigned after library board members declared that a discussion of voting rights was too “far left,” whatever that means. The staff editorial in the same publication argues that the public library board made an indefensible decision to not hold the program because local voters would be displeased and it was supposedly too “political,” with the University of Louisiana agreeing to the program instead. The library board was clearly taking a reactionary decision here. Librarians are on a lot of trouble elsewhere in the state too. A recent article in Scalawag notes that in March 2020, the director of the New Orleans Public Library refused to shut down the 15 branches of the library, leading library workers to start petitions “pressuring the director to shut the place down” and they were successful, but calls to cut the library’s budget loomed. Other than that, the Canadian Journal of Academic Leadership had an article examining absurd library bureaucracy “through a Critical Race Theory Lens,” while other posts examined the problem with the research it yourself mantra, how librarians require specialized skills to be successful, the importance of public libraries, the value of information access, and the story of Chinese-Americans and the gold rush. I loved reading about the prickly meanings of the pineapple from the Biodiversity Heritage Library and the role of librarians in one of my favorite anime series, Cardcaptor Sakura.
I’d like to end this newsletter with a few articles. Wired talked about a quest to quash misinformation, the Washington Post noted the creation of new museums, which will be part of the Smithsonian, for Latino and women’s history, JSTOR noted how the Civil War got its name, Norwich University talked about the pandemic effects on war and society over the course of world history, and History Associated focused on the presidential transition in 1860. In closing, I’d like to point to two stories in the Perspectives of History about research, curation, and design remotely and why historians do what they do. Hope everyone has a productive week ahead and steps up to confront any challenges they have to face, hence the below video which is one of my favorite songs in Elena of Avalor. Enjoy!
- Burkely