For today’s blog I took a look at the Library of Congress’ free internet archive called “American Memory”. I will say that the number one positive aspect about internet archives is that it allows individuals who normally would not have access to these sources a way to further explore a topic that they are interested in and normally would not be able to handle. Furthermore, this greater access allows people who may not be able to go to a location like the Library of Congress or to an archive elsewhere the ability to still be able to work with the materials that they need or want. As for how digital archives changes how I look at sources: it doesn’t. Just because a photograph has been uploaded to the internet on an archive doesn’t mean that it is suddenly of a greater or lesser value. Granted, there could be issues with how an online archive is handled if the individuals managing the online archive are not uploading what you would be handling if you went to the actual archive.
For example, if one were to look up newspaper articles about the Vietnam War and only the article were available rather than the full page of the paper that it was on, I would argue that the fact that the article is available to more people is a positive thing. Despite this, it is unfortunate that the whole page the article is on is not available. In this case there is some give and take regarding archives and how they can both be a positive and negative force. Though I would argue that greater accessibility is very important, as long as those individuals in charge of the archive are working to create a more complete collection online then the slight imperfection for the time being can be overlooked. However, I would not say that these are hard qualitative differences for both analog and online archives lend themselves to the historical community as valuable resources that help to create a fuller picture of our past.
PS- Unfortunately I don’t have a metal band that sings about archiving but I do have one that makes references to Greek mythology and Japanese culture.
Lincoln Loves Cats 