Archival: What Will We Remember?
Sierra Leone Public Archive, Freetown, Sierra Leone, February 2019.
Archives at their best should be a way for humanity to look back and examine moments in time through an unadultured lens. However, archival is neither a democratic nor a standard practice. Marion Stokes, an independent archivist, took it upon herself to record television programming 24/7 from 1979 until she died in 2012. At the time, she was considered eccentric (and maybe crazy) for the constant recording of major news channels. Marion felt compelled to begin recording during the coverage of the Iranian hostage crisis in November of 1979, believing important information was being lost as the story evolved. Marion understood the importance of recording what public officials and on-air reporters were saying. Today, Marion Stokes’ work has been made accessible through Internet Archives.
A Pew Research study found that “A quarter of all webpages that existed at one point between 2013 and 2023 are no longer accessible, as of October 2023 (PEW).” As someone who grew up on Tumblr, I find this terrifying. A significant portion of my cultural experience, past and present, happens through digital sharing. Blogs, published articles, vlogs, tweets, and vines. Good or bad, it all captures the current reality. Without proper archiving, it becomes impossible to get a full picture of early Internet culture. The phenomena that was Tumblr from 2010-2015 deserves to be studied one day as a reflection of a major cultural shift due to the growing digital landscape.
A guiding principle in one of my favorite English classes was “politics is pervasive.” Nearly everything that we do is inherently political, including recording history. Archives, especially when they capture personal experiences and habits provide a window into ordinary life throughout history. Personal documentation provides a perspective into everyday life and insight into social landscapes. This is why I cherish family photo albums and home videos. I get the chance to see my family dynamics from decades ago.
My mother’s family.
In her book Art on My Mind: visual politics bell hooks writes, “Cameras gave to black folks, irrespective of class, a means by which we could participate fully in the production of images…Before racial integration that was a constant struggle on the part of black folks to create a counter hegemonic world of images that would stand as visual resistance, challenging racist images. All colonized and subjugated people who, by way of resistance, create an oppositional subculture within the framework of domination recognize that the field of representation (how we see ourselves, how others see us) is a site of ongoing struggle.”
The images Black people create are political, whether that be overtly or not. As bell hooks suggests, images created by Black people that captured Black families, love, joy, community, and care serve as resistance against hegemonic worldviews. Archival images of Black ancestors, while deeply personal, are in fact political. They represent moments of intimate resistance and joy, often created without the intention of public consumption. However, there is art made for public consumption.
The exhibition Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898 – 1971 examines the works created by Black filmmakers. It was inspiring to see that Black Americans were making independent films and telling their own story as early as 1898. Unfortunately, there was a section dedicated to films that had been lost because they were not properly archived. The absence of these works highlights a gap in cultural history.
The realities of what is archived reflect what society values at any given time. Archiving requires time and money but is critical to maintain historical context. I admire the work of all archivists who are working to preserve history and culture. I have a special place in my heart for Black archivists, who are doing the work of ensuring Black contributions to history and culture are not forgotten. One of my favorite organizations is Maya S. Cade’s Black Film Archive. On a personal level, I am beginning to back up my photos and videos and digital content I want to come back to onto a hard drive. We can all be proactive in how the world we exist in is archived.
Sources:
hooks, b. (1999). Art on my mind: Visual politics. South End Press.
Pew Research Center. (2024, May 17). When online content disappears. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/data-labs/2024/05/17/when-online-content-disappears/
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