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<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left><SPAN
style="LETTER-SPACING: 0px"><FONT face=Arial size=2>Good
morning,</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
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<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 12px Helvetica"><SPAN
style="LETTER-SPACING: 0px">I am very pleased to welcome Maryanne Dever (of
Monash University) to the personal archives listserv. Today is the
beginning of a weeklong open discussion of issues arising from our reading of
her articles. I hope many questions and examples from our own work have
come to mind and that these can be bandied about this week. <SPAN
class=962374912-21042008><FONT face=Arial size=2> (Just a reminder to
participants to send replies and questions to the entire list and not just
the last speaker). </FONT></SPAN></SPAN></DIV>
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style="LETTER-SPACING: 0px"></SPAN><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 12px Helvetica"><SPAN
style="LETTER-SPACING: 0px">So to begin the discussion... </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 12px Helvetica"><SPAN
style="LETTER-SPACING: 0px">Maryanne, it’s wonderful to have you with us.
Thank you for agreeing to participate. I was a real pleasure to reread
your articles in preparation for this, particularly because you have such a way
of enticing the reader with vivid examples in combination with well-informed
interpretation and criticism of existing assumptions <SPAN
class=962374912-21042008><FONT face=Arial size=2>how we
approach </FONT></SPAN>archives. </SPAN></DIV>
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<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 12px Helvetica"><SPAN
style="LETTER-SPACING: 0px">One of the most important themes arising in both
articles, and a good place to start<SPAN class=962374912-21042008><FONT
face=Arial size=2> </FONT></SPAN>I think<SPAN
class=962374912-21042008><FONT face=Arial size=2>, </FONT></SPAN>is the
idea of the “fissured archive” that is that the archival fonds which is brought
into the archives is (as you put it) like a fishnet... <SPAN
class=962374912-21042008><FONT face=Arial size=2> threads "held taut over
pockets of nothingness"</FONT></SPAN>. That the personal life is always,
inevitably more than the sum of the remains and inevitably
ineffable. </SPAN></DIV>
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<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 12px Helvetica"><SPAN
style="LETTER-SPACING: 0px">As Carol Shields put it in her novel <I>Small
Ceremonies, </I></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 12px Helvetica"><SPAN
style="LETTER-SPACING: 0px"><SPAN class=Apple-tab-span
style="WHITE-SPACE: pre"></SPAN>“So much of a man’s life is lived inside his own
head, that it is impossible to encompass a personality. There is never enough
material. Sometimes I read in the newspaper that some university or
library has bought hundreds and hundreds of boxes of letters and papers
connected with some famous deceased person, and I know every time that it’s
never going to be enough, its hopeless, so why even try?”
</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 12px Helvetica"><SPAN
style="LETTER-SPACING: 0px"><I>(Couldn’t resist one of my favourite
quotes!)</I></SPAN></DIV>
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<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 12px Helvetica"><SPAN
style="LETTER-SPACING: 0px">There are other aspects which you discuss to show
how this fissured archives is further complicated such as the role of chance and
the self-censorship and role playing of the creator.</SPAN></DIV>
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style="LETTER-SPACING: 0px"></SPAN><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 12px Helvetica"><SPAN
style="LETTER-SPACING: 0px">So how do you think that you as a scholar
interpreting archives and we as archivists should approach this fragmentary,
shifting ice floe? I wonder if you could comment further<SPAN
class=962374912-21042008><FONT face=Arial size=2> on how to 'live
with ambiguity' </FONT></SPAN>? </SPAN></DIV>
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style="LETTER-SPACING: 0px"></SPAN><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 12px Helvetica"><SPAN
style="LETTER-SPACING: 0px">Catherine<SPAN class=962374912-21042008><FONT
face=Arial size=2> </FONT></SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="LETTER-SPACING: 0px"><SPAN
class=962374912-21042008> </SPAN></SPAN></DIV>
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style="LETTER-SPACING: 0px"></SPAN><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 12px Helvetica"><SPAN
style="LETTER-SPACING: 0px">(SISPA Chair)</SPAN></DIV></BODY></HTML>