Archives and Manuscripts Post #5:

As we have discussed in class, archivists strive to make material accessible to researchers as soon as possible. Whether it be through minimal processing or even accessioning as processing, archivists aim to move quickly and construct an archive that is representative of the functions of an organization or life of a person. However, as articles like Elena S. Danielson’s “The Ethics of Access” and Sara S. Hodson’s “In Secret Kept, In Silence Sealed: Privacy in the Papers of Authors and Celebrities” show that this is not always possible. Because of the personal and sometimes unflattering material kept in organizational or personal records, many archives are accessioned on the stipulation that certain materials remain restricted to researchers until a certain amount of time has passed. In certain cases, donators have gone as far as destroying certain personal material in order to keep it out of the archive!

When archival restrictions comes to mind, an image of a corrupt bureaucrat painting over sensitive information on sheets of paper with a large black marker probably pops into one’s head, but there are many reasons why certain material might be restricted. In Hodson’s article, she discusses feeling conflicted about releasing certain materials in Baron Kinross’ papers to the public. The British travel writer’s papers often described his sexual experiences with other men and outed many closeted gay men in the process. Fortunately, by the time an archivist had completely processed the collection, enough time had passed that the privacy of these men no longer remained an issue. Ye,t this instance shows that arrangement and access often means making difficult ethical decisions for archivists.

As both a researcher and someone who wishes to respect others’ privacy, I am somewhat conflicted about this. Every researcher dreams of finding that one source that completely changes common thinking on a particular topic, but it might also be worth considering the lives and reputations of those preserved on paper in that source. In my research on groups in the United States that supported the Sandinista government in Nicaragua during the 1980s, some of the best sources I’ve found are applications to join activist groups that travelled to Nicaragua to help rebuild infrastructure destroyed by counterrevolutionary forces during the country’s civil war. While participants filled out these applications more than twenty years ago, they contain telephone numbers and addresses of activists. Yet, they also provide a researcher like me with a glimpse into what motivated many Americans to join these construction groups. The Tamiment Library’s Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater New York provides access to such materials, yet the Nicaragua Network Record, housed at the Wisconsin Historical Society in Madison, Wisconsin, has restricted similar materials until 2050. Those applications are probably my favorite source I’ve ever found, but what would the people whose lives are compiled in those documents say to such a statement?