“The Importance of Being Archival”

Over 200 librarians, archivists, curators, and other scholars gathered at The Mary Baker Eddy Library on February 13, 2003 to celebrate the official opening of the Library’s historical collections and related book library. Along with touring the state-of-the-art facilities, guests participated in a special panel discussion with several prominent historians.

William Fowler, director of the Massachusetts Historical Society, served as moderator for “The Importance of Being Archival,” which focused on the ways an archive—like the archives of The Mary Baker Eddy Library—are crucial to understanding both our past and present. “Documents,” explained Fowler, “are mute without scholars to give them a voice,” and he shared several stories about the impact that documents can have on our understanding of the world (see media files below).

Harvard University professor Richard Pipes, a world authority on the Soviet Union, emphasized the ability of archival material to confirm a scholar’s hypothesis. He explained how the opening of Lenin’s secret papers provided the physical evidence for what he had already suspected from his previous research. Pipes also discussed his preservation work with the archive of the country of Georgia.

For MIT professor Pauline Maier, an archive can be a way of understanding our own past as Americans and as individuals. Maier, who is best known for her book American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence, discussed the importance of preserving papers by publishing them in books. She reminisced about her days as a graduate student examining colonial newspapers that “crumbled as she turned the pages.”

Blanche Wiesen Cook, an award-winning biographer of Eleanor Roosevelt, began her remarks by admitting, “I like to read other people’s mail.” She went on to discuss the importance of accessibility and preservation, and the necessity of fighting for public availability of government papers. Cook told the story of reading through Eleanor Roosevelt’s FBI file after it was opened and finding an entire section examining the first lady’s work in the women’s liberation movement.

Click below to access media files featuring a five-minute excerpt from “The Importance of Being Archival” for RealOne and Windows Media players.
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