Reflections by Caly McCarthy

This week’s readings both spoke about the importance of archives in the work of a historian, especially as they pertain to national narratives. Jennifer S. Mulligan and Durba Ghosh each examined the significance of the archives (and perhaps more importantly, the archivist), but they focused on different aspects of this vital institution.

Mulligan identifies the Archives nationales as central to the creation on France as a nation. In a rather straightforward sense, this is true because the Archives houses official documents that record proceedings of the state. These documents (transcripts of hearings, diplomatic correspondence, drafts of bills, etc.) give legitimacy to the state. Depending on the public’s access to the Archives, they also indicate the relationship between the governed and the governing.

In a more figurative sense, Ghosh argues that archives are of central importance to creating a nation by contributing to the prevailing national narrative. Ghosh articulately observes that archivists have a great deal of power over the legacy of government involvements by granting or denying access to certain documents, and by organizing sources in a particular way that encourage some connections and discourage others. She offers the example of Britain and India, and the strikingly different ways in which the two nations portray interracial marriage during British colonialism in India (pride for the British, disdain and distance for the Indians).

The Dickinson College Archives contains documents largely pertaining to the College, the lives of its founding members, and events in the greater-Carlisle area. Granted that I have had very limited interaction with the College’s Archives, I do not think that they are particularly related to the building of a nation, as far as state papers/national legitimacy goes. That being said, the College was founded by Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, who believed that the nation could only succeed if its constituents were properly educated and involved in the democratic process. Perhaps this could constitute as relevant to the founding of the nation? More likely the contents of the Dickinson College Archives contribute to a small facet of a larger national narrative. Interestingly, the website of the Dickinson College Archives offers that one of its responsibilities is “maintaining the institutional memory of the entire Dickinson community.” This sounds strikingly like keeping guard over the stories that get told about the identity of a nation.