Author Archives: Susannah Burger

One difficulty I’ve had this semester when considering what to write for this blog has been finding news stories about archives. While I knew I had other options and could have spoken more about in class readings, I liked the idea of responding to news stories a bit better. But consistently when I would try …

Continue reading “New Media and the Archive”

Racist remarks shared between Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon while the latter was still president came to light earlier this year. This was not exactly surprising; Nixon’s bigotry and antisemitism had been previously exposed through similar tapes, though in this exchange the remarks were particularly shocking due to Reagan being the one instigating them and …

Continue reading “Archives and Manuscripts Blog 9, Nixon, Government, and Access”

The article from Minju Bae regarding the struggle of unionization at The Tenement Museum reminded me of a sort of recurring joke I’ve heard over the years. It’s short and typically said in the context of a worker saying “Nah, my boss told me a union wouldn’t work here, and he usually Loves unions!” While …

Continue reading “Managing History Blog 6, Public Historical Work and Accompanying Difficulties”

This week Carmen Maria Machado released an experimental memoir, In the Dream House, and last night through the Free Library she spoke about the memoir at a free event. I was lucky enough to go, and during this event she echoed what she had said about the book in the prologue and what reviewers had …

Continue reading “Archives and Manuscripts Blog 8, Silence in the Archives”

In a recent interview with The Cut, writer Angie Cruz discussed her creation of an online digital archive in the form of an instagram account. This archive was created due to the absence of Dominican women in the CUNY archive. For the article to lead with the creation of the archive I would have liked …

Continue reading “Archives and Manuscripts Blog 7, Media Portrayal of Archival Issues”

The Atlantic this week published a profile of Eric Lidji, the archivist who has taken on archiving the Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting. He is the archivist for the Ruah Jewish Archives but as the piece points out, has added the Pittsburgh Shooting to his workload. At the time I’m writing this we’re two days from the …

Continue reading “Archives and Manuscripts Blog 6, Archives and Trauma”

In Private History in Public : Exhibition and the Settings of Everyday Life by Tammy Gordon private and public cross reference with high and low sensibility as well as class differenceThe idea of the intimacies that public history displays was interesting to consider in relation to Elfreth’s Alley; with the class dynamics already in place …

Continue reading “Managing History Blog 5, Intimacies in Public History”

Andrew Hurley’s book Beyond Preservation: Using Public History to Revitalize Inner Cities, was somewhat different than what I had predicted it would be like from the title. It’s not that the book doesn’t live up to the title but rather that it bucks the previous use of the word “revitalization” in connection with “inner cities” …

Continue reading “Managing History Blog 4, A Spectre Haunting Elfreth’s Alley”

Ari Aster’s film Midsommar was released to an abundance of praise for its bold take on folk horror. What was left out of this discussion was how Midsommar exposed the true horror of ethical misconduct among academics. Within the film five graduate students(four in anthropology, one in psychology) travel to one of the group’s hometown …

Continue reading “Archives and Manuscripts Blog 5, Midsommar And Ethics in the Archive”

Yellis’s work “Fred Wilson, PTSD, and Me: Reflections on the History Wars” both informs about Fred Wilson’s innovative work with museums and places this work in the larger context of “history wars.” This leads to a larger discussion and reflection on what makes Fred Wilson’s work seem so vital compared to traditional exhibitions; and furthermore …

Continue reading “Managing History Blog 3, Affinity and Difference”