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Re: Sharon Centanne's STOP CHENEY email to list
Chris ... I thoroughly agree that we consider the human side of the job, but
the original posting was far from what I would call a "kind and gentler"
discussion. Once the poster entered the area and call people "rapist,
pillagers, etc.," polite conversation ceased. There is no discussion.
Your statement "I realize that I work in a heightened political environment
(labor union) but I have also worked in academic archives, historical
societies and a major urban public library, and they are also very political
workplaces" is partialy true, but in the many years that I have worked in
the private and public sector it was called "office politics". In the
federal section I believe it's called the "Hatch Act" that precludes
communication and activities that you want to establish on this list.
Even after people within the federal government, who I thought asked very
nicely to reduce the political discussion because of limitations imposed by
law, the discussion continues.
Oh, I have tried to respond to you other message directed to me, but your
server must be turned off after hours as the message bounced back.
Bob Dalton, CRM
Dalton Consulting
----- Original Message -----
From: <UFTARCH1@AOL.COM>
To: <ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU>
Sent: Friday, May 25, 2001 1:20 PM
Subject: Re: Sharon Centanne's STOP CHENEY email to list
> May 25, 2001
>
> Hi Peter (Kurilecz),
>
> Hmmm, very interesting. Don't men usually tell women to be objective
and
> not subjective? But, Peter, the field of archives is completely
subjective
> in terms of decisions of archival value and collections maintenance.
>
> My comments about Sharon's, and others, right to express their
political
> views in our professional online archives forum was characterized by you
as:
> 1. not factual
> 2. unobjective
> 3. not directly related to archives profession
>
> And, you remind us that:
> 1. archivists don't resolve or clarify history
> 2. intrusion of politics may result in the loss of funding re:
> donations
> 3. the archivist must remain neutral
>
>
> I just really disagree with your points above.
>
> Briefly, I was only arguing for allowing archivists to discuss
pressing
> social concerns online. A good example: remember the discussions related
to
> cultural heritage loss re: Yugolavia/Bosnia and the destruction of
passports
> and other important government records? We discussed on the listserv
> efforts to lobby our government officials and National Archives to speak
out
> against this tragedy.
>
> Re: archivist's subjectivity. I learned in academic study
(journalism,
> history and especially women's studies courses) that identifying your
> subjectivity is preferable to maintaining a false, or fake objectivity.
I
> try to always identify my subjectivity to researchers using my archival
> collection and ask for researchers' perspectives/ subjectivity regarding
> their topics. I also identify my subjectivity in my exhibits,
presentations,
> and other historical projects I work on.
>
> I realize that I work in a heightened political environment (labor
union)
> but I have also worked in academic archives, historical societies and a
major
> urban public library, and they are also very political workplaces. I
guess
> we just disagree on where politics and archives intersect. I'm would
still
> encourage archivists to speak out on issues that directly affect our
archives
> and facilities.
>
> Finally, the archivist as acquirer and appraiser and processer and
> describer of collections most definitely does resolve, clarify or
complicate
> historical discussions. Not to mention that most (not all, of course)
> archivists are also historians in their own right with historical training
> and an interest in historical analysis. In my opinion, remaining neutral
> never helps us to carry out our responsibilities effectively, but being
> passionate advocates or enthusiastic activists does. (I have been
involved
> in efforts to save women's movement-related historical materials in NYC
for
> the past 8 years and this history would be lost otherwise.)
>
> One last thing-- I think that Chris Jackson said it best in an old
> message to the listserve --
> Re: Sonny and Cher and more (4/12/99)
> I am inclined to believe that if this list is anything worthwhile it
is
> more than simply mail and notes...We are also a community. A community
where
> issues are discussed and points of view debated. As part of all this we
also
> sometimes are lighthearted, tell jokes (some terrible) or recount stories
we
> hope others will find intersting or amusing.
> Perhaps an inevitable part of such a community is that at times some
of
> us will find other's enthusiasm greater than ours. So be it. That is the
> price we pay for being human. I would much rather belong to a warm,
caring
> community than to a trains-run-on-time-I-don't have-time-to-delete
community.
> I realize this list-serv is designed as a device to enable us to be
> better archivists, but I have zero interest in belonging to a list which
> ignores the human side of the job. If we become a humorless group which
> actively seeks out to destroy whimsicalness then we are just as pathetic
as
> our public image and deserve the disinterest and scorn we sometimes
attract..
>
> Touche, Chris.
>
> Lucinda
>
> Lucinda Manning
> UFT Archives & Records Center
> United Federation of Teachers
> NY, NY 10010
> 212-598-9213
>
> A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!
>
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>
> Problems? Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>
A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!
To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to listserv@listserv.muohio.edu
In body of message: SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
*or*: UNSUB ARCHIVES
To post a message, send e-mail to archives@listserv.muohio.edu
Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html
Problems? Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>