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Re: Johnny Appleseed and Archival movies



However flawed the portrayal of the archivist (?) in Rollerball may be, at
least the adversarial relationship some of us have with computers was well
represented!

(Oh, no! Mine just erased a file because I criticized it!)

Best wishes,

Thomas Berry, Archivist/Web Editor
Historical Construction Equipment Association
16623 Liberty Hi Road
Bowling Green, Ohio 43402
Phone 419-352-5616
Fax 419-352-6086
tberry@hcea.net
http://www.hcea.net


---- Original Message -----
From: "Mr Robert D. Shuster" <Robert.D.Shuster@WHEATON.EDU>
To: <ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, April 04, 2002 10:35 AM
Subject: 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
>
> A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!
>
> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to listserv@listserv.muohio.edu
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> Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
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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>