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Johnny Appleseed and Archival movies



I just wanted to send a note to the listserv to everyone who very
kindly took time to send a reply to my message about Johnny
Appleseed document collections.  Although many possible sources
for such a collection were suggested, the only actual one was
mentioned in a message from Peg Schram, Record Manager/ ACS of
Allen County/City of Fort Wayne, Indiana, who wrote "John
Chapman lived here for most of his adult life.  Our Recorder or
Auditor has some documents signed by him but little else is
known. "

Concerning archivists in movies, it seems to be there was one in
the movie Rollerball (the good, James Caan version, as opposed
to the recent remake, which I haven't seen).  If my memory is
correct, Caan and friend go to visit the hall of records, where all
the records of the past have been put in electronic form.  The
archivist (I don't recall what title he was given) spent most of his
time arguing with the computer which held the records, the
computer having developed a somewhat condescending attitude
toward the decrepit archivist (I think he was played by Ralph
Richardson).  At one point, to spite the archivist, the computer
erased all the records from the twelfth century!

I cannot think of any movie where archivist were portrayed
accurately or sympathetically as opposed to dustbunnies.    In
fiction, there is LeCarre's Smiley's People, where the archivist is
a significant character in the story.  She is intelligent, and strong
willed, if eccentric.  Documents are actually used and searched
for in the story in a manner not completely irrelevant to the way
they would be in what we call real life.

Another literary source for a favorable, even heroic view of
archivists is A Canticle for Lebowitz by Walter Miller.  There has
never, unfortunately, been a movie made of this gem (NPR made
what was in my opinion a not very good radio dramatization.)
The book tells of the efforts of three generations of monks to
preserve written and printed fragments of culture after a world
wide nuclear holocaust, followed by a deliberate effort to destroy
all written records.  The monks are called bookleggers, but they
seem to preserve many documents as well printed sources.
However, much as I love the book, there is almost nothing in that
reflects actual archival theory or practice.

Bob Shuster
BGC Archives

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