In advance of the 2018 Annual Meeting, we invited SNAP members to contribute summaries of panels, section meetings, forums, and pop-up sessions. Summaries represent the opinions of their individual authors; they are not necessarily endorsed by SNAP, members of the SNAP Steering Committee, or SAA.
Guest Author: Sarah Nguyen, MLIS Candidate, University of Washington iSchool
410: Sharing Our Stories: Using Archival Collections to Develop Commemorative Events
Speakers
First Speaker
Martin T. Olliff presents “The Archives and the Traces of a Small-Town Doughboy’s Obscure Life”.
Family level stories are the most accurate in constructing any histories
HPR Finberg Practice: Writing local and all histories
- the self
- the family
- community
- state
- Nation
Test by remembering 3-5 events through the above 5 canon of commemorations. They all must agree upon the memory for an accurate story.
- See JR Goodwin and Irene Pierce for the Alabama family and war history
- Archivist job is (not) the first family bubble (but truly, it is)—responsible to work across all bubbles when Olliff accepted the collection.
- Referenced family stories and (mostly wrong) genealogical reports from other family members
- Scanned 2 portraits, 35 scrapbook of photos, 38 postcards, 2 passes, 11 letters – told about interior lives (Allowed to obtain originals and scan for digital records. Family kept originals)
- set of letters informs another side of the story
- 6 collections and 11 letters were from Godwin himself, but difficult to tell if an item of him prior to him leaving for war
Some items were unknown by the family themselves. E.g. Personnel records at the Alabama military records revealed:
- he was drafted, people didn’t know
- not a national guardsman
- single with sister as emergency contact
- occupation as telephone lineman and sent to signal core and didn’t have to go into combat
- Family didn’t know how to access the personnel records. Family didn’t know he had 3 tattoos but revealed on military records.
- They also didn’t know he spent 5 days at Camp Hospital #64, treated with 1 aspirin/day
Published regimental histories (normally online and easily accessible)
- 2 military histories gave more info about Godwin’s life (in this case, 81st Infantry Division – Summary of Operations in the World war and 306th Field Signal Battalion).
- included a paragraph about Godwin
- troop movement during War to reveal where Godwin travelled around
Conclusion: A story of obscure doughboy augmented from official and unofficial artifacts. Family members memories can be authenticated as years go by, so archivists are needed to survey the artifacts to find the true story.
Second Speaker
Rebekah Davis, from Limestone County Archives, Northern Alabama presents “No Ordinary Lard Bucket: Bringing Life to Judge Horton’s Scottsboro Letters”
This is a case study on: James Edwin Horton Jr. In 2015, the county archives started to raise funds to build monument and the Morgan County Archives created a traveling photography exhibit. Davis met Katherine Horton, Judge Horton was her father, was told that she had a lard bucket with many letter.
- Lard bucket = original hollinger buckets for the southerners
- More than 200 letters, resolutions, telegrams and clipping
- Now, half is housed with the Hortons, and the other half with Samford University
- Hosted programming to shed light on exhibit, stories, and objects
- Student help worked with professor to create database of all records, included codes and metadata of all objects.
- Giving voice to historic documents: taking primary source docs and engaging with public can inspire actions (to get monument created). Letters from “exotic” places, telegrams, from interesting organizations. Bring “new” things to the local community
- Communist party had strong letters and to release the Scottsborough boys
- letterhead from the KKK
- interesting people (people easily found on Google)
- Interesting message and diction (signed from God)
- Do not hide hate mail. Death threats from both side need to be saved even though you want to keep the the mood and messaging light.
- Great opportunity to include a Disclaimer to warn family of that “this next letter contains racial epithets and language which are demeaning by any standard and painful to read…” – provides context to the diverse audience
- host family and community connections to hold live readings
- Law Enforcement Training Statewide. Police receiving professional development and continuing education about history and Black Lives Matter stories for their work
- Know the community and people and how they connect to the primary documents
Third Speaker
Haley Aaron presents “Dinner and a Show: Reader’s Theatre at the Alabama Department of Archives and History”, also known as the Reader’s Theatre ADAH.
This is a WW1 Centennial Commemoration.
The archive contributes regularly to WW1 Centennial Committee via:
- 2 symposiums
- 4 public events
- 3 exhibits
- multiple lectures
But these regular events lead the archive to be at risk to tell same tropes of war and tell same story over again to point of fatigue after so many years of doing the same thing.
New plan for events:
- recreate WW1 menu (5 course dinner based on various menu artifacts). Hired a local caterer to develop menu and play dishes and decorate the centerpieces. Give board members time to talk to take in the scene
- Write a script: 5 thematic scenes, 10 min or less each (about 50 min total). A unique way to highlight collections. Immersive experience and develops a diverse and cohesive narratives. But challenges: short time frame to write, revise, prepare script + gaps in collection + logistics for dinner
- [a theme]
- boys at war, resting, hanging out, resisting hard work
- local community of patriotism, local feelings, courage, face of challenge
- feelings of loss, highlighting one soldier
- end with a hopeful note, feeling of soldiers returning home
Approach:
- Focus on ADAH collections
- Find engaging quotes
- Select and anchor piece to define each scene to define tone and emotions of the scene
- Use minimal staging to set the scene using Shakespeare actors to act
- projecetd images on screen behind actors like the reader’s theatre format to highlight collections for stakeholders
Keys for Success
- Build on the success of previous events
- Use local talent
- Clearly define your narratives
- Select engaging quotes
- Use published sources to fill gaps
She’s willing to share script! Reach out to her email for access.
Audience Questions
- How to deal with stories that are not uplifting?
- Haley: let emotional moments speak for themselves. It’s okay to go to the moment of loss and it’s powerful that it’s safe to expect audience to understand
- Rebekah: Lie and history generally does not have a happy ending but we study it so that we don’t repeat to that sad end
- Marty: commemoration is about structural power. Memory is different. Authentic memory as opposed to a canonical approach to memory. If you want an authenticate memory then find the original source.
- Indefinite loans are highly frowned upon in the archives and museums world. How did you find a permanent home for the letters:
- Samford University has the permanent collection. Rebekah’s org received permission to access and digitize. Returned to Samford but still allows access during outreach
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