Taryn Simon's bloodline photography project, as mentioned in her TED Talk, extends beyond the realm of archives and strikes a chord with the audience. I work in the College Archives and I thought Taryn's talk was incredibly insightful, but her experience is rare. I have spent a good portion of my time in the archives filing pictures and documents, which isn't exactly earth-shattering stuff. That routine was my job until about a year and a half ago.
The family of one of the College's earliest male professors bestowed upon the Archives all of his papers and letters. James Franklin Lewis was a veritable Renaissance man - he taught chemistry by day and was a prolific poet by night. In his short 42 years of life, he wrote over 2,000 poems, several novels, and three plays. Using his letters and personal documents, I constructed a biography that will hopefully be published.
In honor of the curation of this special collection, a small reception was held in the Library on April 27. Lewis' children (now in their 70's) attended with their families and were eager to share their few memories of their father. Professors from both the science and English departments were invited to speak about Lewis' thesis on organic chemistry and read some of his poetry.
The family was so grateful to my supervisor and myself for the care we took with their father's belonging, his life's work. That to me, was what Taryn was referring to, the thing that cannot be articulated. The pride in one's work; the sense of completion a family feels when their questions are answered. Archiving has become so much more than organizing photo albums.
No comments:
Post a Comment