Archives, memory, and interfaces with the past

Abstract

Abstract. Archival interfaces are critical nodes in archival systems where archivists negotiate and exercise power over the constitution and representation of archives. Drawing on notions of interfaces from physical, technological, and computer systems, archival interfaces are both a metaphor for archivists' roles as intermediaries between documentary evidence and its readers and a tangible set of structures and tools that place archival documents in a context and provide an interpretative framework. Interfaces in modern institutions and technological systems are neither natural nor neutral. In probing archival interfaces, what may appear as neutral and objective processes are revealed as places where archivists determine what constitutes legitimate evidence of the past and shape social memories. The emergence of computer interfaces as an increasingly common mode of user interaction with archives demands that archivists confront the interpretative nature of their work and exploit opportunities to place themselves visibly in the interfaces they construct. Keywords: archival description, archival systems, digital documents (electronic records), interfaces, representationTo modem planners, engineers, and systems designers, interfaces serve the vital function of connecting components and subsystems into efficient and rational systems. 1 The best-designed interfaces are invisible to the user because they appear to be natural, if they are visible at all. As such, interfaces enable and constrain certain activities in ways that are inconspicuous and often taken for granted. Doors and hallways provide interfaces between the interior and exterior of modem buildings that allow people to enter the

The Missing Voice: Archivists and Infrastructures for Humanities Research

“…Margaret Hedstrom, for instance, emphasises the powerful position archivists have in selecting and describing records, and how they thereby influence historical knowledge without providing a transparent illustration of the choices they have made: 'I am urging archivists to become more conscious of power by declaring it and share it, however imperfectly, with each other and with current users and future generations'. 43 This vision of a more transparent role of the archivist in the digital age is also reflected in a recent study by Terry Cook. He shows how professional historians and archivists arose side by side in the nineteenth century, but have grown apart since.…”

MUBIL: Creating a 3D Experience of “Reading Books” in a Virtual Library Laboratory

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Critical Directions for Archival Approaches to Social Justice

“…A particularly active area in archival thought has been theorizing the role of archives in the formation and propagation of collective memory (Bastian 2003(Bastian , 2009Caswell 2010;Cook 2013;Jacobsen, Punzalan & Hedstrom 2013;Hedstrom 2002;Hedstrom 2010;Josias 2011;Punzalan 2009). Largely perceived as official sources of elite historical narratives, archival records figure in the preservation, extension, and promotion of social memory.…”