As we celebrate International Archives Day, we invite people to join us and discover the delights of the archiving profession. Join us as we profess our love for stories, for history both past and present, and for shaping our futures.
This is a loose translation in Filipino of the closing paragraphs of John Fleckner's presidential address to the Society of American Archivists on its' 54th annual meeting, written in the form of three letters to Mary Jane Appel, a graduate student to-be who was curious about archivists and the archival profession.
Translated by UPSLIS for #IAW2020
"As I write these words, I am struck — as always — by the magnitude of our profession's ambitions and responsibilities in contrast to our minuscule numbers. And then I recall — as I usually do — that it is precisely the breadth of our professional values that ties us to a wider community of professions, institutions, and individuals. Our allies are all those who struggle to understand and protect the past for the benefit of the future. We are, from this enlarged perspective, truly the partners of librarians, museum professionals, folklorists, archaeologists, and all the others who preserve the cultural record in its material form. We are the colleagues of political leaders and scholars, of jurists and journalists, of architects and artists who would be faithful to the integrity of the past in their interpretation of it.
Well then, this is my joy in doing archives. To be, at once, a master practitioner—with esoteric knowledge and uncommon skills—and a participant in the most profoundly and universally human of all undertakings: to understand and preserve the past on behalf of the future.
Mary Jane, I would like to tell you much more about my profession: about the sense of shared commitment to the archival mission; about the spirit of generosity and collegiality; about the lifelong friendships... I would tell you of my hopes for the profession: that we will overcome centrifugal forces and embrace all who care for the historical record in all its forms; that we will articulate the public interest in preservation of the record; and that we will increase public understanding and support for our essential mission.
I would like to tell you all this, but perhaps better, I invite you to join me in this profession, to share in our commitments, and to discover for yourself the larger (and smaller) meanings in what we do. If this is your calling, I assure you lifelong challenges, a sense of community through participation, good friends, and more than a few good times...
John Fleckner (1991) "Dear Mary Jane": Some Reflections on Being an Archivist. The American Archivist: Winter 1991, Vol. 54, No. 1, pp. 13. https://doi.org/10.17723/aarc.54.1.3607610316t66j42
