The Presentation of Archives
Some say that a picture is worth 1000 words because a complex story could be adequately explained just by visualization rather than explanation.
A picture can explain a situation quicker and more clearly than a long narrative; however when explaining history words are used more often to provide information to historians and researchers. Archived information must be presented in a specific way to fit the needs of the audience, which is composed of the researcher and the lay person.
An archive is a piece of writing explaining history, but doesn’t include published works or something usually found in a library. In the Dittrick Medical History Center, there are no research publications, but rather one might find a schedule of the daily activities of a prestigious drug researcher or the bylaws of an organization of medical professionals. These archives are used by modern day researchers seeking to prove why something was done in the past. For example, a researcher writing a paper on the improvement of fire safety regulations in Cleveland hospitals may use a newspaper article from the 1929 Cleveland Clinic fire and the documents from the city council when the fire safety reforms were made. The newspaper and city documents will not describe how fire safety reforms were created, but rather why. The newspaper would cover the cause of the fire and quotations from primary sources about the event, and the documents would explain the discussions and opinions of all the legislators present, revealing the thought processes behind the reforms.
Researchers usually come to archives seeking specific information on a narrow topic. In order to save researchers hours sorting through files of archived information, archivists must decide what to save and what to discard. There are thousands of binders from various organizations and institutions that range from the minutes of a meeting to notes outlining a scientific procedure to follow in a laboratory. Once the information is sorted, it must be organized for the researcher. There is a standard outline followed by most archivists: an introduction or overview of all the information in a specific box; a “Biographical Note” about the author of the writing; a “Scope and Content” section explaining exactly what the box contains and its importance to the author’s work; and a “Container Listing” detailing the contents folder by folder and box by box.
Archives are excellent detailed sources of historical evidence, but pictures and artifacts are much more palatable by the lay person. The “lay person” can be a student or other individual who does not frequent the archives regularly. This individual may be going to the archives to get a unique source of information for a project, something that can’t be found in a library. A museum type of display is more “visitor friendly”; it allows newbies to see the large scope of the archives in a visual form. Where a detailed discussion on an event could be used to perfectly reconstruct an event, a picture is much faster to see and easier to absorb information from. Therefore, it is important in a museum such as the Dittrick Medical History Center to display text with many visual aids, such as artifacts or pictures, as supplements. The archival system (consisting of the outline stated above) may seem a little daunting at first glance to an inexperienced visitor, but if the museum exhibition is not detailed enough for a visitor there are references to archives available with more information.
In the museum, there was a portion dedicated to the Cleveland Clinic fire of 1929 that explained how 123 people lost their lives after x-ray film caught on fire in the basement, releasing noxious fumes and destroying the structural integrity of the building. It uses newspaper articles and pictures to supplement the story of the fire, but uses the story of the fire itself to explain why the design of x-ray film was changed throughout the years so that now x-ray film is much less toxic and hazardous. There was also a reference section below the display that explained where more information on the development and history of x-rays could be found in the archives.
In order to make the archives more meaningful, the information in an archive must be presented in a way tailored to either the determined researcher or the casual observer. Usually, binders of detailed information are of more use to researchers because they are more familiar with the archival system, but the museum presents visual aids with text such as that in a museum to interest the casual observer.
Comments