“Treat Them with the Reverence of Archivists” : Records Work, Grief Work, and Relationship Work in the Archives
Date
2019-11
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Association of Canadian Archivists
Abstract
In this article, we take up Geoff Wexler and Linda Long’s call to explore
the ways in which records and recordkeeping are “bound up” in experiences of
loss and grieving. Drawing on theoretical and clinical literature on bereavement,
we introduce the concept of grief work and investigate some ways in which grief
work can be performed through the creation, use, organization, and preservation
of records. We illustrate our study of records work as grief work with examples
from the Hamilton Family Fonds at the University of Manitoba Archives and
Special Collections, the Sylvia Plath collections at Smith College and Indiana
University, and the Lara Gilbert Fonds at the University of Victoria Archives.
Finally, we suggest some impacts – especially the ethical impacts – a grief work
perspective might have on the ongoing development of archival theory and
methodology. This article lays the conceptual groundwork for a larger, ongoing
study on recordkeeping, grief work, and the concept of archival care.
Description
Keywords
archives, grief, care, artist archives
Citation
Douglas, J., Alisauskas, A., & Mordell, D. (2019). “Treat them with the reverence of archivists”: Records work, grief work, and relationship work in the archives. Archivaria, 88, 84-120. https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0388866