So now that the year has finally come to a close, short term has begun to descend upon us. Short term is a Bates tradition where a student can take one class intensively for 4 weeks. The idea behind it is to allow students to explore subjects they wouldn’t usually dabble in (the grade you get for your short term shows up on your transcript but doesn’t factor in to your total GPA) and to let students connect with the campus and their friends during a time of year when Bates and Maine itself are absolutely beautiful. It is really a fabulous time and it feels like it is going by way too quickly now that I realize it’s my last. My friends are taking courses like “Reading Tony Morrison” to “Drawing With Intention.” What am I taking you ask? Well, I am taking “Introduction to Archives and Archival Science.” Now you may be wondering what this means. Or you may poke fun of me like some of my friends but let me tell you, when your old photos and newspaper clippings are slowly disintegrating in 30 years because you didn’t store them properly, don’t come crying to me. You should have listened to me that Wednesday night in our living room when I told you all Ziplock products are of archival quality. Or that you should never do anything to an object that is not reversible.
But all bitterness aside, I took the class on a whim. All I knew was that I didn’t want any gender studies or religion. At all. And that’s what I got. But I in fact got a great deal because archiving is actually quite a dynamic process that is very much affected by systems of power. It’s a question of knowledge- what gets to count and what doesn’t. Who’s papers get archived and who’s don’t? Who gets access to archival material? The archivist has a lot of ethical questions with which to deal within their work and thinking about these issues tickles me pink.
Another great thing about the class is that I get to organize things. Often times as an archivist you are presented with a gigantic box of goods which you must sort through and organize. It’s an extremely satisfying process and I’ve found I have been learning a lot. For example, the other day I ran across a set of old pictures. “Oh these are tin types” I muttered to myself. Needless to say I impressed the person I was with hardcore with my bizarre scope of knowledge.
As part of the class, our job was to take some collections from The Leeds Historical Society of Leeds, ME to organize and archive them ourselves. It is quite a process and we’re expected to be done by the last week. I chose a photo collection so I have been having to isolate moldy photos, and package other photos into handy acid-free binders. Whenever I get a folder sorted out I feel incredibly accomplished though often times I arrive home exhausted after staring at old black and white photos of white men with crazy mustaches standing in front of large trees or covered bridges. But monotony aside, it’s a fun process for someone who needs to be in control constantly. So what I’m trying to say is it’s fun for me.
Here is a photo of our class outside the Leeds Historical Society building on a fieldtrip. We’re a small bunch but boy, I think we know what we’re doing.
The little town of Leeds
So there you have it, my short term class in short. I’ll be sure to keep you updated. Until then, beware of scrapbooking, taping and gluing photos is not a good idea.
Shhhh,
Steph
