Thread by @amaliasl

Since pretty much everyone under quarantine has to use digitized primary sources, I thought it might be useful to point to #digitalarchives that *explicitly* acknowledge & caution users abt #archivalsilences in their contents, and describe their work to rectify them.

A thread.

1/ A note: Most people appreciate the easiness of online access to archival material, but tend to forget that all #digitization is selective.

2/ This means that what you see online is usually not “everything” that an institution holds abt a topic. It's important to understand the digitized together w the physical. Even if you can't access physical records now, you'll be able to better contextualize what you see online.

3/ OK, one more note: Digitized items should also be “read” alongside the finding aid of a collection. Archival description in the form of finding aids do not simply provide information: they provide #context.

4/ Finding aids offer more nuanced information than metadata. They don't only describe the item, but its position in relation to & links with other items in the collection, and give background info about relevant people, places or events.

OK, now on to the digital archives:

5/ In The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, the user is cautioned that lots of information was routinely omitted in the records, and to achieve a fuller understanding, one should also consult material in archives & libraries. #digitalarchives #history

oldbaileyonline.org/static/Value.j…

6/ The 19th-Century Concord Digital Archive aims to redefine assumptions abt Concord writers by stressing their interactions with other marginalized groups “less frequently recorded in textual documents." #digitalarchives #ethnicity #race #socialclasses

digitalconcord.tamu.edu/content/projec…

7/ In the Digital Transgender Archive, researchers are cautioned that some themes might not come up in search results due to decision to avoid creating metadata that might lead to misinterpretation of an individual's identity. #digitalarchives #transgender
digitaltransgenderarchive.net/about/policies

8/ The Orlando Project focuses on gender, and explicitly states its aim to recover and include female authors who were lost/forgotten/suppressed/ignored, and were left out of the canon & of traditional historical accounts. #digitalarchives #gender #women

orlando.cambridge.org/public/svDocum…

9/ The Early Caribbean Digital Archive doesn't simply aim to fill gaps but to "disrupt, review, question, and revise the knowledge regime of coloniality that informs the archives from which we draw most of our materials." #digitalarchives #slavery #race

ecda.northeastern.edu/home/about/dec…

10/ "In Her Own Right: Women Asserting their Civil Rights, 1820-1920" discusses the "archival problem" of gaps and omissions as "a statement unto itself, leaving some voices unrecoverable." #digitalarchives #women #gender #socialclasses

inherownright.org/essays/the_com…

11/ The South Asian American Digital Archive aims to use technology to create a more inclusive, diverse history, and promote grassroots participation in archiving. #digitalarchives #communities #identity #Immigration

saada.org/mission

12/ The Palestinian Museum Digital Archive is the first such major project to create a reliable record of Palestinian history and culture, and digitally preserve material from endangered archives. #digitalarchives #ethnicity #culture #MENA region

palmuseum.org/news-1/the-pal…

13/ The Plateau People’s Web Portal is a collaborative project that allows self-determination: tribal representatives choose and curate their own material, and determine how they are to be perceived and understood. #digitalarchives #NativeAmerican

plateauportal.libraries.wsu.edu/about

14/ The Digital Archive of the Guatemalan National Police Historical Archive explicitly emphasizes misstatements, distortions, and lies in the records--as with all those produced by repressive regimes--and urges the user to be mindful of inaccuracies.

ahpn.lib.utexas.edu/material_usage…

15/ The archive of digital reconstructions and mapping of former detention camps in Kenya mines oral histories, archives, and physical evidence to save from oblivion this bloody history. #digitalarchives #colonialism #violence #race

africandigitalheritage.com/reconstructing…

16/ The Delis Negrón Digital Archive emphasizes archival practices to "help remedy some of the historical lacunae that affect many underrepresented groups" and empower them to actively document their stories. #digitalarchives #communities #usLdh

recoveryprojectapp.wixsite.com/negrondigitala…

17/ Livingstone Online acknowledges archival biases & aims to use technology "to foreground the often lost hands, voices, and sources" while recognizing that "no archive is neutral, the postcolonial archive perhaps least so." #digitalarchives #colonialism

livingstoneonline.org/about-this-sit…

18/18 To wrap up this thread, here is some nice advice about how research processes change when a pandemic prevents access to physical archives.

https://twitter.com/alanmaceachern/status/1244952540774621190

Please feel free to add to this thread, or point me to other resources that you think make a good job of explicitly acknowledging archival silences, gaps, and omissions.

This thread is based on a list of such archives and projects I had put together, and that you can find below.

Includes also a list of resources and readings about #archivalsilences.

docs.google.com/document/d/1YK…