What’s in a name? Trans people and LC authority records

While writing one of my final papers, I ran into a peculiar problem: how do I cite two different publications by an author when their name has changed?

In this situation, it seems as though the author has an uncommon first name with a distinct cultural marker, and changed to using a more common nickname that could be derived from their full name. How can I honor an individual’s preferences while still making sure my bibliography is navigable?

Fortunately, the Library of Congress helps maintain consistency in these cases. Through authority records, standards can be put into place for how to refer to individuals, organizations, corporations, and other proper nouns. Authority records also exist for subjects, such as content areas. This is especially useful regarding figures who use middle names and use pseudonyms, or events that are known by different names. These authority records can then be used in places such as metadata in libraries or in archives’ finding aids.

According to the Library of Congress, name authority records are updated daily, and subject authority records are updated weekly. However, they fail to mention who submits these changes, and why, and how immediately after they’re needed. In actuality, libraries can submit changes as an institution, or individual non-librarians can use forms to propose changes, although there’s no guarantee that the changes will be implemented. It’s for these reasons, and others, that trans people are frequently harmed by these subject headings.

The most common way this happens is through someone’s deadname appearing in their authority record. While authority records tend to be categorized under a single standard name, alternative names are included in the body of the record to assist in searches. Even when a trans person’s actual name is listed as the authority record, their deadname may still be included in the record. Alternatively, even when deadnames are not included in the record, an authority record might have a notation that an individual’s name was not their name assigned at birth: an unnecessary distinction for those who have never published under their deadname.

Additionally, subject authority records betray an unfamiliarity and other biases regarding trans-related subjects. For example, “Transsexuals” and “Transvestites” were created in the 1980s, and “Transgender people” not until 2007. “Female-to-male transsexuals” was created in 2002 and “Male-to-female transsexuals” not until 2006, and still no subject headings exist related to genderqueer people.

It is not uncommon for the general public to think of archives and libraries as neutral, authoritative institutions. However, authority records regarding trans people serve as a reminder that, like any public institution, archives and libraries reflect societal attitudes and biases. In this case, systematic transphobia shows up in stagnant and outdated language and naming practices used in records meant to set standards of identification. While many librarians and archivists are working towards changing this situation, like most responses to institutional bigotry, it’s a slow process.

(As for the author I’m citing? Her authority record was under her nickname!)

Angell, Katelyn, and K.R. Roberto. “Cataloging.” Transgender Studies Quarterly 1.1-2 (2014), 53-56.

“Frequently Asked Questions,” Library of Congress Authorities
http://authorities.loc.gov/help/auth-faq.htm

Thompson, Kelly J. “More Than a Name: A Content Analysis of Name Authority Records for Authors Who Self-Identify as Trans.” Library Resources & Technical Services 60 no. 3 (2016): 140-155.

Going through my own family’s archives

Yesterday was Thanksgiving, so my partner and I drove to my aunt’s house for dinner. We arrived several hours early to venture into my aunt’s basement, to go through some of my mother’s Stuff. My  mother was an avid photographer, spending rolls and rolls on decades of vacations and other events. She was also loathe to get rid of anything potentially memorable. At a young age after my father’s death, the two of us moved in with my grandparents, and many boxes of keepsakes ended up in my aunt’s basement. Later, after her own death, my aunt took in the rest of the boxes. So now they wait there, until I live somewhere with enough space for me to take them off her hands… And in the meantime, about once a year, I’ll take a box or two and see what’s in there.

This venture was a lot of fun, with several relatives coming into the basement at various points to identify long-gone faces and laugh at outdated fashions. However, one particular moment made me realize the impact of original order on wholly understanding a collection.

One box, helpfully labeled “pictures in frames,” was stuffed with newspapers protecting the frames from each other. It was a hodge-podge of photos, ranging from my own baby pictures to my great-great-grandparents’. It was packed so haphazardly it was a struggle to get even halfway down into the box. And the newspaper was dated December 1996.

Seeing this newspaper immediately put the box into a larger context for me. My father passed in September 1996, and we moved in with my grandparents in February 1997. This box must have been packed in the interim, during what must have been a very emotionally wrought time for my family. It also most likely went immediately into storage at my aunt’s.

While this doesn’t give me any information I didn’t already have, original order in this case did help me to make connections between the individual box and the larger emotional context of its packing.

A Case Study in Archival Advocacy

Recently at work, our cubicle placements were shuffled around, and I got moved across the aisle from a curatorial colleague. With this newly-close proximity, I’ve gotten a greater chance to learn about her role and the goings-on of the curatorial department — mostly through hearing about the public inquiries she’s had to answer!

Today, she spoke with a rabbi who was interested in donating documents to the museum. Apparently, a congregant had left boxes of their families records on the doorsteps of the rabbi’s synagogue, and the rabbi had no idea what to do with them. I imagine they were the congregant’s family records — photos, letters, maybe some old newspapers. At a loss, the rabbi attempted to give them to us.

Of course, my coworker explained that unfortunately we could not take the recordss, but she recommended several Jewish and genealogical archives closer to the rabbi who might be able to take the records instead of us.

This situation was a small reminder of the importance of advocacy — archivists shouldn’t just advocate for fundraising and other forms of support, but also advocate for proper archival procedures. Even letting the public know about the existence and scopes of various archives falls under the advocacy umbrella.

In this case, advocacy could have led the congregant to know in the first place to not leave records on the doorsteps of a building. This is a great way to introduce water damage, mold spores, bugs, or any other kind of damage that could speed up deterioration. Advocacy could have also let the congregant, and later the rabbi, know where the records could be donated, or give them the tools to look up what repositories would be the most appropriate to ask.

Of course, this kind of advocacy can be difficult to do. Some archives create posters to teach the public good archival practices. Others might leave literature in common places like community centers or libraries, or integrate advocacy into their outreach efforts. Otherwise, building networks of information, such as the rabbi calling my coworker, can act as advocacy in individual cases. But even with these examples, one must make sure that the public ends up in the same place as these posters, literature, outreach efforts, and networks of information — and then listen to them.

It’s like the old saying goes: you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make the horse follow archival best practices in preserving its family records!

A Story of the Internet: Manners and the SAA’s Main Listserv

As a member of the American Alliance of Museums (AAM), I follow their general listserv which comes as a daily digest email. Posters on this listserv are largely museum workers, with occasionally some consultants, students, volunteers, and non-professionals in attendance. The dozen-or-so posts each day can range in topic from asking about certain kinds of artifact casings to broader discussions about accessibility and interpretation. Rarely are conversations less than supportive, so I was surprised to read about the very different atmosphere of the general listserv for the Society of American Archivists (SAA).

Unlike AAM’s listserv, SAA’s is open to the general public, and due to the SAA’s small staff, no one moderates the listserv. This, along with the kinds of discourse typical to internet culture, have led to this listerv having a toxic environment, to the point where a significant portion of SAA subscribers avoid the general list.

SAA’s director Nancy Beaumont stated that the listserv was unmoderated in order to promote a free-flow of information, as well as to encourage non-archivists to express an interest in the field. This lines up with two of the main values listed in SAA’s Core Values Statement — archivists should make information, particularly through the primary sources in their collections, as accessible and usable as possible, and also advocate for their own institutions and for their field.

However, this incident does not reflect two other areas of the Core Values Statement. In addition to accessibility, archivists must value accountability. In most cases, this tends to refer to institutional transparency, especially for private institutions who must answer to donors. In this case, however, participants’ actions are rendering the listserv’s main goals — the free-flow of information and discussion with all interested in archives — to become untenable. This also overlaps with another value underrepresented here, which is professionalism. Archivists, according to the SAA, must value professionalism. This means that archivists should be collaborative, cooperative, respectful, and always learning. These qualities cannot happen when discussion board participants are being mean and aggressive. Additionally, discouraging people from joining the listserv, and then eventually closing it, removes that opportunity for lifelong learning that I have enjoyed through AAM’s listserv.

All of this said, SAA’s more niche listservs will continue to function, and the organization plans to revisit the structure and moderation of the general listserv.

A Sneak Peak into the John J Wilcox Archives

Tonight, a classmate and I went to the opening reception for “Still Fighting for our Lives,” an exhibition celebrating the 30th anniversary of the AIDS Library. It was a great exhibition that spoke to the horrors of AIDS and the many ways people fought to share information about the virus. The exhibit also did an excellent job at showing how far-reaching the virus was, how many communities it affected.

Another classmate, Grace Tang, helped to curate the exhibition, and in a moment of needing to escape the unexpected crowds, she took us up for a peak into the John J. Wilcox Jr. Archives on the third floor of the William Way Center.

The archives was small, in a narrow room with shelves lining the walls, plus an island of shelves in the middle of the room. Most of the shelves held stacks of flat archival boxes, with various tchotchkes decorating shelves here and there. One shelf had a propped up photo of a bunch of older people in colorful costumes, while another shelf held a small model of Woody’s, a prominent local gay bar.

A long table that ran alongside the island held a mountain of buttons, some organized in little containers and others splayed across the table itself. In some cases, multiples of the same button design were grouped together in one container. I had to wonder — are these from separate collections that had the same button? Did they try to collect the same button multiple times? Why would a single archives want a dozen identical copies of a button? In other containers, buttons were grouped by theme, such as different designs advertising the same organization. Other buttons were spread out across the table, presumably in the middle of being processed or organized.

While I obviously didn’t have the opportunity to ask about the buttons, or anything else regarding the organization of the archives, it was fascinating to take a quick peak into what was going on there!

Obama Presidential _____

I recently read in the Chicago Sun Times about recent developments to the Obama Presidential Center: specifically, that it will not have an on-site archives, and instead possibly have a branch of the Chicago Public Library attached to the museum. Instead, Obama’s records have been fully digitized and will be kept at an alternate location.

This change in tradition brings up an interesting question about access and audience: who is the intended audience and how is it affected by the Center having a public library versus a private archives.

The Obama Foundation, which will own the Presidential Center instead of NARA, describes it as “an engaging place for families to enjoy themselves, be inspired, and learn tools to make a positive change in their communities.” Opting to support the Chicago Public Library, rather than NARA-controlled archives, allows the Obama Foundation to better fulfill its mission.

Additionally, presidential libraries are often a way for former presidents to control their legacies. For example, Lyndon B. Johnson’s library is housed in a looming eight-story brutalist building which includes a replica Oval Office, while John F. Kennedy’s library also doubles as a memorial for his assassination. This grandeur must have some effect on researchers visiting the archives; indeed, Franklin D. Roosevelt chose to display gifts he received as president, for researchers to gawk at. By separating the Obama Presidential Center from his archives, the Obama Foundation avoids influencing researchers and won’t risk devoting resources to maintaining these superfluities at the detriment to maintaining the archives themselves.

This all works because it’s not like Obama’s records won’t be kept anywhere; the Barrack Obama Presidential Library will still exist, and currently is kept in a suburb of Chicago. The main difference is that the archives will stay under NARA’s purview, while the Obama Museum and related programming will be privately owned by the Obama Foundation. Additionally, all of Obama’s records have been digitized, meaning they can be accessed from any computer — even one located in the library of the Obama Presidential Center.

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“Chicago,” The Obama Foundation, https://www.obama.org/chicago/

Anthony Clark, “Presidential libraries are a scam. Could Obama change that?” Politico, May 7, 2017 https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/05/07/presidential-libraries-are-a-scam-could-obama-change-that-215109

Lynn Sweet, “Obama Presidential Center will have public, not presidential library,” Chicago Sun Times, Nov 1, 2017, https://chicago.suntimes.com/chicago-politics/sweet-obama-presidential-center-wont-house-presidential-library/

Damage vs Distinction: Rescuing Documents from a Church Basement

Earlier this week, YIVO made an incredible announcement: a new trove of Hebrew and Yiddish documents were found in a church basement in Vilnius, hidden there by Jewish intellectuals during the Holocaust. These documents, around 170,000 pages total, include valuable artifacts such as letters by Sholem Aleichem and a postcard by Marc Chagall. The bulk of documents describe everyday life in what used to be the center of the Jewish world before the Holocaust decimated Jewish life in Eastern Europe.

While reading this article, I couldn’t help but think of this week’s Archives class, where we discussed disaster preparations. In an archives, disaster can strike from something as simple as introducing new documents, such as if they contain mold, mildew, or bugs. YIVO archivists, in preparing to process these documents which have been hidden in a basement for over 70 years, will have to go through many of the processes and precautions we discussed. This is a likely risk for these documents given Lithuania’s climate and the fact that it can get extremely hot in the summers. That amount of heat, especially in an enclosed space like a basement, can exacerbate deterioration speeds.

First, archivists would have to assess any damage and risk — this may include the aforementioned spores, water damage, faded paper and ink, or paper deterioration. Based on the determined value and scope of damage, archivists would decide if they should be preserved/conserved, or microfilmed and discarded.

While helpful for remote access, digitizing as a form of preservation is not always the best option, as files might incur loss, digital formats become outdated, and pricing for storage and migration can build up very quickly.

Once archivists determine that records are valuable enough to transport to YIVO’s archives, they can be isolated and freeze-dried to kill potential mold, mildew, or bugs. Doing this in isolation of past acquisitions and cleaning down surfaces such as tables can help to ensure that no contamination occurs. If they aren’t doing minimal processing, removing metal and adhesive from documents can also prolong their lives.

While this can seem like a lot of work, this discovery in Vilnius will prove to be an immense boost to research about Eastern European Jewry. Ensuring that these documents are safe and preserved will also ensure that this boost lasts for a very long time.

Preserving in the Face of Danger

In the past few weeks, North America has seen an incredible number of natural disasters, including hurricanes, earthquakes, and wildfires. While figuring out how to take care of basic needs such as food and shelter, museum workers and archivists have been struggling to figure out how to best take care of their collections. In one recent example, the home of Peanuts creator Charles Schulz was just destroyed in a wildfire, presumably along with many artifacts that still remained in the house.

Meanwhile, archivists in the United Kingdom’s National Archives have been dealing with a very different kind of struggle — digitizing their collection and working towards a goal of becoming “a digital archive by design.” By last year, the Archives had made 230 million documents digitally available to the public, compared with 600,000 documents physically available.

The concurrence of these two news items makes one wonder of the possibilities of digitization as a precaution for destruction. What would the implications be if an archives were destroyed, but all documents had been digitized?

Probably the most glaring issue this brings up is that of permanence. which James M. O’Toole has argued has changed meaning over the years. Whether this quality is interpreted as keeping the documents fixed in time, preserving the information as separate from the physical document, or the intrinsic value of the documents themselves, digitization calls permanence into question through potential issues such as duplication, file loss, or access to an internet connection.

That said, wide-scale digitization cannot replace the appeal of original documents; O’Toole describes how, as technology advanced and microfilm usage increased in the early 20th century, so did concerns about preserving deteriorating documents. While digitization provides many important benefits beyond convenient preservation, such as wider access, it cannot compare to the visceral experience of handling original documents.

So how would the UK’s National Archives fare, for example, with damage to documents given its massive digitized collection? Some may argue, as Schellenberg does, of the importance of a document’s intrinsic value, and that research done without it is weaker. Others, as O’Toole notes, are more concerned with maintaining an information-rich society, in which case the digitization would suffice.

All in all, while digitizing documents should not be an archive’s main defense against potential destruction, it’s a technological process that vastly increases access and ease of research.

 

O’Toole, James M. “On the Idea of Permanence.” The American Archivist 52, no. 1 (1989): 10-25. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40293309.

Sulek, Julia Prodis. “Peanuts creator Charles Schulz’s widow flees Santa Rosa fire, home destroyed.” The Mercury News, 12 October 2017.
http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/10/12/peanuts-creator-charles-schulzs-widow-flees-santa-rosa-fire-home-destroyed/

Trendall, Sam. “How The National Archives is digitising 1,000 years of history.” Public Technology, 5 October 2017. https://www.publictechnology.net/articles/features/how-national-archives-digitising-1000-years-history

 

Archives as a Site for Political Action: Argentina and the IHRA

Last month, it was announced that a large collection of WWII-era documents from Argentina would be turned over to President Benyamin Netanyahu. 5 terabytes’ worth of digital newspapers, telegrams, letters, etc will be used to help investigate how much Argentina assisted Nazi war criminals after the end of WWII. Several notable Nazi leaders, such as Adolf Eichmann, were found to have escaped to Argentina after the war, despite the country supporting the Allies. This is a tremendous opportunity to clear up a country’s participation in the aftermath of WWII and potentially work towards making sure war criminals do not have similar ratlines to fall back on in the future.

While reading this article, I was intrigued that these records would be given from one president to the other, as opposed to from specific Argentinian archives to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). At the same time, I was impressed that President Mauricio Macri was giving the records at all.

The article makes clear the main reason why the articles were delivered president-to-president: this was an opportunity, besides initiating a new area of Holocaust research, to renew diplomatic relationships between the two countries. In addition to receiving the documents, President Netanyahu spoke about their common allies and enemies. This falls in line with our class discussions about how politics and related factors might influence a donor to give documents to one archive over another. In this case, giving the documents directly from one president to another acts as an opportunity to strengthen their allyship.

As repositories of memories, archives can play a powerful role in how a governmental body is seen and understood by others. In some cases, such as Guatemala’s national archives regarding the National Police as described in Kirsten Weld’s Paper Cadavers, records are destroyed or otherwise hidden in order to protect a dictatorship and other wrongdoers. In Weld’s book, non-governmental actors stumbled upon the archives and had to restore and process it, in order to settle the past. On the other hand, despite Argentina playing some kind of role in the escape routes for Nazi war criminals, by turning over archival records, they are acknowledging their errors and supporting the investigation.

“Argentina Turns Over Tens of Thousands of Holocaust Documents to Israel.” The Jerusalem Post, 13 September 2017. http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Politics-And-Diplomacy/Argentina-turns-over-tens-of-thousands-of-Holocaust-documents-to-Israel-504982

Weld, Kirsten. Paper Cadavers: the Archives of Dictatorship in Guatemala. Durham: Duke University Press, 2014.