Forgetting to Remember

Last night I attended the annual Jenkinson lecture at UCL, which was delivered by Simmons College's Professor Jeannette Bastian.  Her title was 'Forgetting to Remember: Archivists and the Memory Imperative.'  Now I had no idea what this talk was going to be about and I vaguely entertained the notion of a discussion on oral history or the function of an archive.  But, what Professor Bastian discussed was a much more detailed and niche concept of memory studies and how collective memory can be archived for generations to come.

Are we like elephants?

  by  brittanyhock 

An important distinction should be made between history and memory.  Archivists traditionally chase after history i.e. knowledge of the past.  The archivist is interested in the record of what actually happened in order to make a linear account of past events.  Memory, however, is a more 'rounded' concept and is the residue left by the past.  This residue can be material for promoting integrated knowledge, social identity and the formation of group consciousness.

The whole concept of memory study revolves around the recording of every aspect of a culture: commemorations, memorials, rituals, food, oral history, events etc.  These are not traditionally recorded in an archive since they are not texts.  But it is high time that archivists embraced the variety of formats in order to protect these fragile memories.

I just read a book called 'The Elephant Keeper' -
isn't is weird how things all fall together

  by  Brendon Cremer 

Archives have always been related to memory as the mantra of the Library and Archives Canada, which 'serves as the continuing memory of the Government of Canada and its institutions' shows.  Archivists are known as the keepers of memories and have a prominent role in decisions concerning what should be kept (remembered) and what should be allowed to be lost (forgotten).  Archives, therefore, could be considered as the triggers of memory rather the memories themselves.  Professor Bastian made an excellent comment when she stated that memory can act as a lens through which archives can be viewed.

I have to admit that I felt quite out of my depth during the lecture since this is something on which I have only lightly touched but it was really interesting to see how it relates to my limited experiences, in my brief career thus far.  When I was in Syracuse I worked on a grant application for the conservation of the Karen community from Burma.  I wrote a documentation strategy for an oral history project and this is the sort of community archive that Professor Bastian was talking about.  But she would take it further, creating a living archive.  She showed us the John Cage archive, which the NYPL has recently published online and it is doing a great job of including works, which have been created using John Cage's music as inspiration   Anyone can upload content and it is truly an example of an archive being at the centre of the creative loop.  Similarly, in theatre archives I have come across students using the archive to create new work.  The University of Bristol Theatre Collections have a couple of students each year working on new creations from the archive.

My favourite elephants

  by  TattyBones 

Community archives don't come without their issues, though.  The community is a record creating entity but it is also the memory frame which contextualises what it records (if you can get your mind round that then you're a better person than me).  Communities have shared pasts and so collective memory is something that requires a lot of work to record - you cannot merely interview one person and get the oral history of a whole community.  This post does not do Professor Bastian's lecture justice but I really found it an interesting concept and I hope that more archivists sit up and take notice and adopt the 'creative will and imagination' that she calls for.

Where are we going?

I'm aware that I haven't written a post in a while and, frankly, it's because I am just plodding along at work and nothing of massive import has gripped me.  And I'm very busy living the London life i.e. spending two thirds of my free time having fun and the remaining third embracing the public transport system (for reference, carrying 15 balloons on the tube at 7.30am raises few smiles).

This week, though, I attended an APAC (Association for Performing Arts Collections) annual study day.  We were looking at early printed theatrical ephemera, which is not a genre of which the National has much, but it was interesting all the same.  Martin Andrews of Reading University spent the morning divulging the history of printing to us and the tables groaning with copper plates, inscribed stones, tools and wooden engravings were a fantastic way to get a hands on grasp of the techniques, which I learned about during my masters.  He took us through engraving, intaglio, relief, planographic and more in the hope that knowledge of the printing techniques would help us (as theatre archivists and museum curators) identify and date early printed materials.

Totally unrelated but everyone should go to the
London Transport Museum to see the
Underground poster exhibition!

The afternoon was taken up with members of the group presenting on their own theatrical ephemera, what they have and how they use it.  Julie Anne Lambert of the John Johnson Collection at the Bodleian brought up a very interesting point.  Aside from the ephemera, she was discussing the new catalogue which uses OCR to search the documents as well as the metadata provided by the cataloguers.  She states that this has eliminated the humdrum of research and freed up time for the focus on interpretation of data.  I had never considered that the methods of cataloguing and presenting the information on the internet could quite so dramatically affect the research process.  Pretty much gone are the days of researchers being the first to look at certain collections or having to go through hand written catalogue cards.  Obviously not everything is catalogued and there are many collections where more research hours are required but as we progress, so does technology and there is no reason why research methods must stand still.

Finding out that the destination sign on buses is actually a
large roller blind really made my day

We are at a very interesting point in technological advancements in archival presentation and cataloguing and information management is ever evolving, which got me thinking about my career...

This 'ever evolving' concept has brought to my attention the cross-disciplinary nature of the information profession.  I do enjoy archiving and my time at Syracuse University Archives was wonderful but I am beginning to wonder where else I could go.  At the risk of sounding like a broken record, my degree was all about the 'skills involved' and so was my Masters in Library and Information Science from Syracuse University.  I had tea with a lady yesterday who really opened my mind to the idea of the bigger picture.  Careers are not about one fixed, traditional path but they are about using each and every experience, good and bad, to mould your own path to the job that will ultimately satisfy you.  The skills involved in an archive job are valuable to almost every other profession and there is nothing to stop me using them in a profession, which is more stable than archiving.  I am keen to get a permanent job next since I am pretty tired of the transience of my life recently but this is not really feasible as an archivist.  SO, what can I do with a Classics degree and an MLIS - frankly, I think that the world is my oyster and this is a liberating concept.  I'm by no means pigeon holed and, as long as I give my all to everything I do, there is no reason why I can't furrow my very own unique career path.  Watch this space.

Furrows...which one is mine?

  by  libraryman 

Kew gives cue for thought

On Friday I attended my first Archive Trainee Group meeting at Kew Gardens.  This group was formed to support those who are pre-qualification (so covers trainees, volunteers and anyone interested in embarking on a career in the archive or records management profession).

Snow on Kew Green on the way to Kew Gardens meeting

Archive Traineeship

A couple of the trainees gave talks on what their post involves, which was a good insight into the variety of jobs out there.  Elisabeth is the trainee at Kew Gardens and has a varied post with focus on reading room duties, enquiries, some cataloguing and blogging for the archive among other things.  Emily works for the Surrey History Centre as part of the Open Up Archives scheme run by the National Archives.  Her role is much more community orientated with focus on using the archives to educate and engage the community.  She has done really interesting work on the gypsy and traveller community and it was interesting to see how the archive can participate in the education of the community and break down stereotypes and misconceptions.  I was also chatting to the trainee with the Bank of England and it became apparent that the clientele of all of the archives is very different.  Her researchers have to be security checked while the National literally allows anyone to walk in and use the materials.

The beautiful National by night

I was surprised, on reflection, by how much responsibility the National Theatre give their Archive Assistant*.  I manage volunteers, accession and catalogue all materials, handle enquiries and the reading room, reprographics, digitisation, library cataloguing, outreach and all other things that the institution and general public throw at you.  This is great experience but, for the pay packet and job description, a lot to ask.  

MA in Archive Administration

Technically my post is aimed at those wanting to apply for the MA.  Andrew Flinn, the course director of the UCL Archive Management MA spoke about the different Archive and Records Management courses offered in the UK and Ireland and it was interesting to hear that, with the exception of Glasgow**, most of the masters are much of a muchness with not a lot of specialism.

As some of my readers (if there are any) might know, I completed my MS in Library and Information Science in August (I received my diploma a few months ago and was vaguely surprised - I had such an awesome time in the States that I sort of forgot what I was actually there for!).  I am now facing the issue of deciding whether I should pursue the MA in Archive Administration, since it is generally required in job descriptions or if I should try to pursue a career in this profession without it.  Now, there are obvious benefits of doing it - as one of the girls mentioned today, it is a means to an end and you can then apply for all manner of archive jobs as a ‘qualified archivist.’  On the down side, it costs around £8,000, would take at least one year of full time study (2-5 of part-time/distance), would overlap substantially with my MLIS and would not necessarily secure me a job at the other end.

I am in a quandary.

My MLIS with archive specialism, a full year of work in the Syracuse University Archive and a year as the Archive Assistant with the National Theatre will hopefully stand me a good chance of getting an archive job further up the ladder but, in this economic climate, can I chance it?  I have spoken to several professionals in archives and they all say that I should give it a shot but, with as many applicants as there are nowadays, employers are looking for any reason to chuck you at the paper sift stage.  Maybe I just need to find a way of selling myself as a cross discipline information professional and show how an international background can benefit an institution...

Kew Gardens

  by  @Doug88888 

We were given a tour of Kew Gardens Archive and it is state of the art (the building was finished in 2010 and was specifically built for the library and archive).  One main thing that stood out was that only around 5% of the archive materials are catalogued.  There are index cards for every name mentioned in the collections but if enquiries concern plants, events, subjects etc. then there is no way of locating the material without an associated name or the knowledge of a learned member of staff.  So, even though the archive was spotless and has a fairly large staff, there are still issues with the collection.  The National Theatre Archive has its own shortfalls, but today showed me that no archive is perfect and a tidy basement is not symptomatic of an excellent and accessible resource.  I can be pretty hard on my place of work but that may be because I was exceptionally lucky in my position at Syracuse University Archives with an archive as old as the institution itself.

London

I should add that life in London has vastly improved now that I am a couple of months down the line and settling in.  I have mastered the public transport system but am still mystified by how every journey appears to take an hour, whether I am travelling from Newington Green to East Sheen or Streatham to East Sheen.  Bizarre.

Pre-Christmas Big Ben

The city, however, has its charm and is wangling its way into my affections.  Lindy in the Big Smoke is immense and I am dancing my wee heart out - I am even getting my head round the dreaded ‘musicality’ (though not to the extent of being comfortable with ‘solo blues’).  The prospect of having to leave when my post at the National is up in October is increasingly filling me with dread...will the fourth city in four years stick?!

* The Archive staff consists of the Archivist and the Assistant with some freelance workers and volunteers.

** Glasgow has very much gone down the digitisation route.

The Singing Hypnotist

An intriguing title you might think...and you'd be right.  I attended an event of this title at the British Library delivered by their current Leverhulme Artist in Residence Christopher Green.  You can read a bit about his residency on the BBC or from his own blog.

I admit that I had absolutely no idea what to expect - what could an artist and performer be doing in the BL?  How did his work relate to the Library and how could it be seen to be of mutual benefit?  Well, I haven't passed a more bizarre and intriguing evening in a long time and it really left me with food for thought.

  by  malavoda 

Christopher Green is a writer and performer as well as being an accredited hypnotherapist.  He has been researching the history of hypnosis in the Library collections including early mesmerists, hypnotising machine patents and stage hypnotism.  He is interested in where the show-biz meets the scholarly and to what extent hypnosis affects self-help.

The evening was sprinkled liberally with amusing songs touching on mesmerists of the past such as Annie de Montford, who hosted mesmeric tea parties and also about the human refusal to heal.  Research was also presented into these characters and the history of hypnotism on stage.  Green had hoped, with his background, to come across 'The Singing Hypnotist' but has, to date, failed to do so.  In the wake of this he has created this persona himself and claims to be able to hypnotise with his singing (and lovely it is too).  As a bit of a hypnosis skeptic, I had my guard up but still ended up singing along and clapping with everyone else in the BL Conference Centre.

Jungle Book's Kaa

  by  quicheisinsane 

But, I hear you say, why am I blogging about this and what does it have to do with archives?  On a recent trip to the Theatre Archives at the University of Bristol I was interested to hear that they run a programme for drama students to use the archive in order to create new work.  The students are encouraged to get to know the archive and use it as inspiration to create something new - one girl was studying the physical memory of the body such as broken bones or scars.  For her project she laid out naked in the archive and invited people to write their scar story on the relevant part of her body.  This was then blotted and these pieces of paper make into a book.  Some were shredded since not all information is kept.  She then archived her work and placed it in the archive.

There is a place for artists in our archives and the question is to what sort of artist to appeal.  The NT Archive is already a reference resource for actors, playwrights, theatre practitioners, musicians etc. etc. so who could be get in that would be different?  It is possible that a visual artist could use our collections to come up with new work, which could be displayed in the National.  It is an area which I know little about but the success of both the Bristol and British Library schemes is impressive and shows the archives growing in an organic and different direction and it would be wonderful to bring this new dimension to the National.

Archivists: you are not toxic!

It takes guts to present on communication and charisma but Marie Owens, ARA Head of Public Affairs did just that and it was jolly interesting. The basics of communication are pretty basic: think through what your message is; appeal to people's interests; don't sound boring; be clear etc.etc. Moira raised some interesting points, such as that the Queen is one of the best communicators around (how good is her public persona?!) and yet she never actually speaks in public other than to say 'Hello...that's lovely...how did you do that...' Communication is a lot more than words, it also depends on the message, the audience and the atmosphere.

  by  Michael Gwyther-Jones 

When it comes to communication and advertising, the audience will be selfish and want to know what they can get for themselves.  (Harsh, but true).  Marie also commented that we should assume low levels of knowledge when advertising or communicating information about archives.  I always forget that not everyone has used or knows what an archive is (to be discussed below).

The Essentials of good communication:

• thought through (and preferably written down)
• clear call to action
• consistency in brand (not as in logos but consistency through the ranks of the institution)

The Desirables of good communication:

• more than one medium of communication
• memorable words or pictures
• charismatic communicators
• receptive audience
• favourable news day

Is advocacy different?

The term 'advocacy' is bandied about fairly freely nowadays but I never really questioned what it meant.  From advocare, to call,  it really sits on top of communication.  Once you have set up the channels of communication you can work on advocacy.  It is a programme of work based on great communication that will, ultimately, change people's minds.

Communicative heads at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery

Why don't archivists communicate well?

A wise member of the audience asked why archivists are not good at communication.  Archivists used to be collection-centered and, as John Chambers, Chief Exec of ARA, says, 'loving a bit of vellum'.  Librarians and curators are more front of house and more visible to the public with the result that their jobs, or at least their services, are slightly better understood than archivists'.  I did disagree with the comment that libraries are all about 'stamp, stamp, shush, shush' but I do get the point that, in general, people are more familiar with libraries.  Many folk don't even know what an archive is never mind why it should be funded and what it could do for them.  Archivists are not politicians or bankers, we have done nothing to make people dislike us; we are not, as Marie put it, toxic.  It is not that we are unpopular, it is just that people don't understand what we do.  I do see how people's eyes light up when I explain what the NT Archive does or when I tell friends what programmes or digitisation projects I can get involved in so it really is just a matter of converting.  People care so deeply about the culture, heritage and history of our country and we can provide them with the means to safeguard it.

Something that I had never considered:

Archivists demonstrate their use and pursuit of the truth through events in the news such as the recent Hillsbrough Disaster revelations and the Jimmy Savile enquiry.  If our funding gets cut much more, we won't be able to bring the truth to the surface - we need to capitalise on these opportunities to tell people about the skills of our sector and to campaign for continued transparency of record keeping.

Hollywood Costume Extravaganza

As part of the SIBMAS conference we were given a talk by the curator, Keith Lodwick, and complimentary tickets to the Hollywood Costume Exhibition.  Now, I have a limited knowledge of museums and what goes into exhibitions so found his introduction very enlightening - everything was on loan from other institutions and the V&A was facilitating the bringing together of costumes and props, which normally languish in private collections all around the world.  Real focus was put on the costume designers themselves and what role they have in the film industry.  As a poster presentation at the conference showed,* costume designers can often be lost in the process and not receive the attention or recognition they deserve.

Hollywood

The exhibition was, I have to say, amazing.  You really get a feel for the theatrical, from the welcoming big screen trailer to the captions on clip boards, backlit lettering and music.  There were costumes everywhere and it was hard to control my greedy gaze.  Particular highlights for me were, predictably, Indiana Jones’ costume with accompanying Spielberg drawing of what he wanted Indie to look like (it smacked of Woody from Toy Story) and the plinth of royalty including Judi Dench’s Queen Elizabeth costume from Shakespeare in Love.

One thing that struck me was something that Keith had discussed: the desire to put the actors back into the costumes.  This is obviously very difficult to do but screens bearing videos of the stars’ faces were hovered above the costumes or images of them in the costume provided behind to give a theatrical feeling.  As Keith said, the costumes are often less exciting when taken out of context and put in a museum.  Excerpts from the script, images and props, and interviews from stars and designers, however, have brought the costumes to life.

Bond's tux was a highlight

The only part of the exhibition that seemed a tad out of place was the last room, Act 3, in which various ‘characters’ are engaging with each other.  Here the ladies are mostly taking part in a cocktail evening while the men are fighting.  So, William Wallace is fighting Jack Sparrow and Don Juan while Leo from the Matrix is attacking Beatrix Kiddo from Kill Bill, Bond is backing up Hans Solo and John McClane is having fisticuffs with Rocky.  This is all very amusing and I had never considered this use of characters - I wonder if anyone is distressed by the unreality of these scenes, when such efforts have been made to make the costumes as close to the original as possible.

* Nancy Friedland, Columbia University presenting on ‘Patterning costume research design’.

A trip to the V&A...for work, of course

For a few days last week I was at the SIMBAS (International Association of Libraries and Museums of the Performing Arts) conference hosted at the beautiful V&A museum in leafy South Kensington.  It is certainly a time of firsts: first time at the V&A; first time in South Ken (and, as my Mum commented, it gives me something to aspire to); and my first time at an international performing arts library, archive and museum event.

The lovely V&A on a less than lovely London morning

The conference was truly international with delegates from as far flung as Canada and Japan and most places in between.  As a chap from the National Arts Centre in Ottawa commented, our institutions are in very different settings, cultures and locations but the problems we face are all very similar and actually hinge more on from where funding comes than the language they speak or in which country they happen to be.  There were papers delivered by representatives at a vast range of institutions and, at times, the gap between state funded bodies and private funded ones was clear to see.

Even though this was only a day and a half conference, there was way too much interesting stuff to write about here but I just wanted to touch on some things that I found appealing and themes that came across.

Kenneth Schlesinger, the Theatre Library Association President, and Barry Houlihan, from the NUI Galway Archive, touched on the cross-disciplinary aspects of theatre archives.  Not only are archives, libraries and museums converging (as the Syracuse University course run by Prof. Lavender studies) but the users of theatre records are coming from an ever-broadening background.  Theatre scholars are perceiving theatre performance history in broader social and cross-cultural context and using collections in ways that were not envisaged years before.  This is another reason for careful thought being given to ensuring non-bias in cataloguing material - you never know who is going to want to access it and for what reason.  A poster designed by Dr. Amy Staniforth from Aberystwyth complimented this: she had interviewed staff as they used the archive catalogue and she studied how they went about their research in an effort to understand their usage and how to improve the service.  We need to comprehend how each researcher works in order to ensure that the service we provide meets their needs - communication is key and this can often be an issue with the ever increasing access to collections being online and often hundreds of miles away from the archivist themselves.

I have no relevant photographs so am just including pretty pictures of London

One of the projects that was pretty exciting was the new 100 Plays 1945-2010 app being designed by the V&A.  This app is not focused on the best 100 or top 100 plays but rather on plays that have affected theatre in post-war Britain and have made their mark.  There will be essays on each play, production photographs, interviews, cast, press reviews and comments.  This is meant to appeal to all kinds of users from school children studying plays to directors and producers looking for ideas.  The focus was on broadening the appeal of the V&A and encouraging communication between people who would not otherwise engage with the V&A’s collections.  The app will be £7.99 when it is released and it will be interesting to see how it is received and who will be willing to fork out that amount to read about plays on a mobile application.  

Some other thoughts:

• Barry Houlihan also mentioned that he has the support of the president of the university, an engineer, since he views an archive as ‘the laboratory for the humanities’ - what a lovely thought!  If only more people in positions of authority had such a view.
• we should not digitise for digitisation’s sake - there needs to be a purpose and eventual use for these images.
• Flickr can be used to release images and it is interesting to follow where these images are reposted and what happens to them - can this be used to gain extra meta-data?  Nena Couch from Ohio State University has experimented with this and had interesting ideas about 

The lovely new King's Cross

An overarching message, and something that is not new but is of note for a new member of this community, is the necessity for the performing arts information professional to be part of the theatre, to know the workings of the technicians, the role of the designers, the importance of various recordings etc.  The theatre archive is part of the machine well-oiled by communication and understanding of the various departments.  I think that this is more true in the performing arts archives than in the other settings in which I have worked, primarily academic, since theatre archivists have to understand where the material has come from and how it effects and fits with other records from the same production etc.

In short, this conference has really opened my eyes to the issues facing all information professionals in this field and made me appreciate the work being done and fascinating projects being undertaken.*

Please stay tuned for a post on NT Live and another on the Hollywood Costume Exhibition at the V&A.

* I haven’t had space to touch on the 3D modelling of objects at the V&A or UK Web Archive or the Virtual Shakespeare Theatre Archive etc. etc.