Making History: An Archivist's Day-Job
Just how powerful are archivists, anyway?
Archivists have the ability to change the our view of the past. I visited Severance Hall's archives to find out just how much power they really have.
After touring the bounteous archives in the dank basement of Severance Hall, I can safely say that the people working there value history very much. My eyes opened wide to sights of papers lining every inch of the cramped walls around me as I ventured deeper into the eerily quiet basement of one of classical music’s most well-known homes. What surrounded me was almost one hundred years of history; details about conductors, world tours, and compositions sat on shelves appearing largely untouched. I could easily believe that the people of Severance Hall kept every document that they had procured in the last hundred years. I was shocked to learn that the documents they kept were merely a select few.
“It is the archivist’s job to pick which documents to keep,” I was told by Severance Hall’s archivist. “We are the ones who decide history.” I pondered that comment for a moment and realized how true it was. Writing in itself can be as biased as a corrupt politician. The archivists are the ones who dig through the piles of documents, essays, tapes, and pictures, and then decide what information should be accessible to future generations. If an archive is carefully analyzed, it may be found to have a political slant. It is the archivist who must try to balance this. The papers themselves are pieces of history; they cannot be changed. They can only be destroyed or stored.
An archive will probably never be analyzed fully, due to the fact that it is almost an impossible task. Severance Hall’s archive, for instance, is not digitally backed up. It is a completely non-computerized archive. People come to the archive for specific information, not to dig through everything. I was told that certain papers have been prepared in advance in response to the most common requests that the archive receives. The information included changes based on the audience making the request. A common person who is curious about Severance Hall will receive different information than a music scholar who is conducting research.
It is in this way that archivists can add their own direct touch to history. I am referring, of course, to the documents that are prepared in advance. The archivist that I spoke to told me that keeping documents from former archivists is a popular way to lighten their workload. These documents become almost a legacy left behind by the past archivists. Now, not only do archivists decide which documents to keep, but they also guide people to specific ones. A very biased archivist could potentially change our view of history dramatically. All he would need is a little hard work and a somewhat lazy successor.
Archivists have very important jobs. They not only preserve history by picking and choosing specific documents to keep, they also choose which documents to direct the general public towards. They have the ability to change our knowledge of history. I checked the internet for the definition of an archive, and this is what I found: “In the course of daily life, individuals and organizations create and keep information about their personal and business activities. Archivists identify and preserve portions of this recorded information that have lasting value." I was slightly disturbed by this definition. Archivists preserve whatever they believe has lasting value. There is no universal standard to compare documents to and judge the lasting value they have. It is an entirely human decision, and the power lies with the archivist: “With great power comes great responsibility.”
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