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November 06, 2005
Archives and Narratives
My take on that archives when correctly maintained do not present a positive narrative or even a multi-narrative. Rather, if they are doing their job properly, archives make it possible for us to tell many many narratives in various ways.
Yes, it is true that archives put boundaries on the narratives that can be told; the materials in a given archive can not be used to support any and every perspective. Although the same dataset can be marshaled to tell a variety of stories, there are in fact limits to the kinds of stories that can be legitimately told using a given dataset.
Yes it is true that archives are subjective in that an archivist or committee chooses which pieces go in the archive but they do not present a narrative.
Here’s where I think the confusion lies. Archives (like the National Archives) often host exhibits. These exhibits often have narratives. But the archives, that is the collections of documents/images/records that the archivists deem worthy of saving, are similar to the datasets that census bureau has decided to collect … writing the narratives are anterior to building the collection.
They are the alphabet that we use to string the story together. Yes, indeed some alphabets may be more limiting than others but the story is still ours to tell.
i welcome your thoughts...
Posted by nmartina at November 6, 2005 07:27 PM