So in going through photo after photo I have to examine all the writing on the back of each picture. Sometimes there’s a lot, in different mediums (pens, pencils etc.) and by different people. Often times its explaining the same scene in slightly different words. It can get frustrating. And boring. And so my mind starts to wander.
I was in a mentally wandering mood today when I checked the back of a photo and saw only an unfinished sentence on the back. And I began to think about the context of this unfinished sentence. I imagined many scenarios, some more morbid than others, in which this sentance could have gone unfinished. This is what I like about having the chance to engage with old materials for this archives course. You’re touching really old things that all have stories behind them. For example, when at Bowdoin for a field trip I thumbed through an old bible with beautiful illustrations and gold ink which belonged to the Medici family. You know, that famous Italian family that you keep hearing about in European history as a sophomore in high school? Yes, them. So that was cool.
When interacting with all these old artifacts one realizes that there is a lot of history behind any given artifact. In fact, artifacts have politics- they are shaped and affected by social and cultural norms similarly to people. I mean, we are the ones who construct these things. Though in the case of the pretty Bible some would disagree with that point but that’s for another blog post.
So basically, it’s exciting to see these old photos and can be exciting to see an unfinished sentence because it offers a plethora of possibilities in which to engage a wandering mind. I’d like to think the person didn’t finish the sentence because it was night time and they got bitten by a vampire. What this would mean is that there are vampires in Leeds. Something to think about…
Shhhh,
Steph
