[Personal_archives] Last thoughts of the first day

[Dean, Heather]

Thanks to all for such thoughtful and thought-provoking remarks, and thank you also to Martha and Alison, our discussion facilitators!



I enjoyed learning about the time/place questions Alison and her students pose, since these are similar to questions researchers bring with them to the archives, and which archivists attempt to answer when possible.  Particularly, "How did it get there?" (in this case, I'm thinking of "there" as the archives) and "What, if any, changes in ownership, condition, and function have occurred over time?"



For many researchers the answers to these questions provide insight into the issue of whether documents are private/public, and in turn, effect how photographs are interpreted and/or used by the researcher.  A question we often get is who donated the material to the archives, with the explicit feeling that there is a difference between photographs intentionally donated to the archives by the creator versus photographs which arrive at the archive unbeknownst to the creator (this also connects to third-parties represented, often unwittingly, in archives).  When a creator donates their papers to the archives, could this be perceived as making this material public, similar to, but not the same as, publishing?



Also, based on the discussion so far, my impression is that defining "private" and "public" is tricky in this case, since photographs and other archival material shift easily between the two (as Catherine noted).  From my perspective, there's a difference between "publicly" sharing photographs amongst family and friends versus "publicly" sharing photographs by depositing them in an archive.



Thanks!  I'm looking forward to the continued discussion.



Best wishes,

Heather



-----Original Message-----
From: personal_archives-bounces at mailman.yale.edu [mailto:personal_archives-bounces at mailman.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Martha Langford
Sent: Monday, October 27, 2008 6:23 PM
To: Personal_archives at mailman.yale.edu
Subject: [Personal_archives] Last thoughts of the first day



About the notion of photographs as launching pads for oral history:

aren't we really talking about memory? What I've argues elsewhere about

the relationship between memory and photography in photographic albums

is that the content and organization of the photographs preserve the

characteristics of orality - that is, the photographs are a scaffolding

for storytelling and conversation. I think this recognition is important

because it changes the way we read the album - we should not read it, as

a book, but understand that the narrative is, as you say,

multi-directional. Orality offers both narrative and its interruption.



Our fascination with photography is its provision of visual facts and

photographic experience in one neat package. Photographic interpreters

like facts, but they are also drawn to good yarn and they look for its

spark in the image. Photographs are not just taken, they are occasioned

by a constellation of factors that make the moment seem significant.



'Night all.



_______________________________________________

Personal_archives mailing list

Personal_archives at mailman.yale.edu

http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/personal_archives
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/personal_archives/attachments/20081027/cf9fff34/attachment.html