Why you should save your receipts: the good, bad, and boringThe Smithsonian, Marion Stokes, and Saving the Mundane
The attack on the Smithsonian is really just the beginning. I mean a chorus of multiple beginnings. Groundbreaking events unfold so quickly in the United States that you would almost forget that sections of the United States Constitution were deleted from the Library of Congress website, which was later attributed to a “coding error” I’m not sure what kind of code would specifically delete sections 8-10 of Article 1 of the Constitution. The exact provisions that refer to congressional powers and keep the president in check. I’m new to Python, so I can’t speak with certainty about the “coding error” claim, but what I do know, as a historian, is that manipulating, denying, and straight-up destroying historical records is a time-honored authoritarian tradition. This is why archives are so important and why I’m dedicating this newsletter to helping us preserve historical records individually and collectively. There will come a time, perhaps quite soon, when people will begin denying that factual historical events even happened. Historical records will be scrubbed and sanitized to fit an authoritarian agenda. The more we record, keep, and collect, the more of ourselves and our own stories we preserve. I want to encourage you to think of archives like this… Nothing is too small or mundane to preserve. no really! Let me tell you the story of Marion Stokes Marion Stokes was not a celebrity, a politician, or a media executive. She was a librarian, community activist, and television producer in Philadelphia. Yet by the time she died in 2012, she had amassed one of the most important media archives in modern history: over 70,000 VHS and Betamax tapes capturing more than three decades of television news, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Her project began on November 14, 1979, the day of the Iran Hostage Crisis. Stokes, watching the wall-to-wall coverage, realized that TV news was history unfolding in real time. But she also recognized something few others did: that once broadcast, it could vanish. Television networks rarely kept complete archives of their own programming, and the gaps in what was saved meant future historians would lose the texture of how events were presented, framed, and understood. So she acted. Stokes set up multiple recorders in her home, stockpiled blank tapes, and built a system to capture everything: commercials, talking heads, anchors fumbling their lines. Nothing was too mundane. For her, the banality was the point. The everyday coverage would become priceless evidence of how narratives shifted, how language framed public opinion, and how quickly stories could be forgotten. Marion Stokes teaches us a vital lesson: archives are powerful. They preserve what institutions neglect. They hold authorities accountable. They make memory possible. And often, they depend not on governments or corporations, but on individuals who care enough to save what others dismiss. There’s a film that recently came out about Marion. You can find it here: https://recorderfilm.com/ Next week we’ll chat about what to preserve and why. Share this with someone so we can work together to preserve history. Until next time, Shae p.s.s. We’re in the middle of a reading crisis, so I’m going to start going LIVE on my Instagram and YouTube for silent reading hours. Put your phone on DND and join our community for 1 hour of intentional reading. Announcements will be made via those channels! You're currently a free subscriber to SHAE THE HISTORIAN. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription.
|
nedjelja, 24. kolovoza 2025.
Why you should save your receipts: the good, bad, and boring
Pretplati se na:
Objavi komentare (Atom)
A high protein snack with a kick 🌶️
Spicy, crunchy, and quick — what's not to love? ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏...
-
Also: 'Don’t think I’m touching a man anytime soon.’ Post-election, I asked where you're at when it comes to sex, desire, and your b...
-
What you eat for breakfast can affect your weight, metabolism, and energy levels differently if you're a man or woman. Here's why....
-
And nontoxic shampoos we've tried and loved ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ...
Nema komentara:
Objavi komentar