American Archivist / Vol. 54 / Winter 1991
Presidential Address
"Dear Mary Jane": Some
Reflections on Being an Archivist
JOHN A. FLECKNER
John A. Fleckner gave this presidential address at
the fifty-fourth annual meeting of the Society of
American Archivists in Seattle on 30 August 1990.
F. Gerald Ham, retired state archivist at the State
Historical Society of Wisconsin, introduced him on
that occasion with these words:
In early 1971 a gangly graduate student—wearing
a locomotive engineer's cap—came into my office.
He inquired if there was a future in archives for a
budding historian with a growing family to feed. He
soon took over directing the thirteen-member ar-
chival network affiliated with the State Historical
Society of Wisconsin and, with the help of others,
made the Area Research Center system a national
model. After twelve years at Wisconsin, in 1983 John became the first director of the
newly formed archival program at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Amer-
ican History. He has held that position to the present.
Among John's most significant contributions to our profession are his role in fostering
cooperation, in helping other archives help themselves, and in promoting the notion that
wider use of archives by a broader clientele is good for the health of a democratic society.
His 1976 article on "Cooperation as an Archival Strategy" helped define and broaden
the concept of interinstitutional collaboration. A few years later he organized a conference
on archival networks and edited the resulting 1982 special "archival networks" issue of
the Midwestern Archivist, which has become a standard reference.
While in Wisconsin, John had worked with several groups of Native Americans to develop
their own archives. This work was the seedbed for the SAA manual, Tribal Archives: An
Introduction, for which he received the Waldo G. Leland Prize in 1985. Earlier he had
published another manual, Archives and Manuscripts: Surveys.
His role in promoting wider use is best evidenced by his work as one of the original
members of the Task Force on Goals and Priorities. In the report, Planning for the
Profession, his guiding hand is seen throughout the chapter on promoting wider use. John
went on to chair the Committee on Goals and Priorities.
The real roots to John's contributions to our profession lie in his deep and abiding interest
and concern for others—extending to his colleagues in the workplace, to the broader
profession, and to all others because of their human dignity and equality.
"Dear Mary Jane"
THIS ADDRESS IS WRITTEN in the form of I loved the combination of handicraft and
three letters to a recent college graduate analytical work and I loved the intense, in-
who spent nearly a year as a volunteer and timate contact with the "stuff' of history.
intern in the Archives Center of the Smith- Before I completed my internship, I knew
sonian Institution's National Museum of I wanted to be an archivist. I never consid-
American History. For Mary Jane Appel ered the long-term prospects, the career
the year was an opportunity to experience ladders, or the alternatives. No, I didn't
archival work firsthand and to consider her visualize my future at all.
future before entering graduate school. For
me, our conversations were an occasion to As a graduate student, of course I had
recollect and reflect on my own career done some research in archives—at the Li-
choices and on the archival mission. brary of Congress, the College of William
and Mary, and especially the State Histor-
Dear Mary Jane: ical Society. But the archivists had taken
You asked me how I became an archivist. all the fun out of it—the materials were
antiseptically foldered, boxed, and listed.
Really, it was elegantly uncomplicated. After Wheeled out on carts, they were like ca-
too many years in graduate school, pursuing davers to be dissected by first-year medical
a vague notion of teaching college-level his- students. On occasion, perhaps, I even
tory, I recognized that university jobs wer- donned white gloves. The documents al-
en't to be found, even if I somehow managed ways seemed lifeless.
to complete a dissertation. I recognized too
that moving office furniture—my latest in a Now, as a would-be archivist, they thrilled
string of minimum-wage jobs—helped to feed me. Of course, now I was in charge of
my small family and to nurture my identifi- these would-be archives. I would evaluate
cation with the proletariat, but starved my their significance, determine their order,
mind and spirit. describe their contents, and physically pre-
pare them for their permanent resting places.
Still, I was so naive that it took a Uni- Still, it was not so much this heady feeling
versity career counselor to recognize that of control that awed me but more the mys-
my history background might be anything tery, the possibilities of the records them-
other than an economic liability. leaning selves. Unlike the research forays of my
back in her chair, she pointed out her office graduate student days, I now came to the
window to the State Historical Society of records without preconceived questions and
Wisconsin just across the street, and she I didn't judge them solely by their contri-
directed me to a recently established grad- butions to my puny research interests. Now
uate program in archives administration. The I didn't have to ignore those portions that
instructor—yes, it was Gerry Ham—would fell outside my research design. No, the
make no promises about the prospects for records could speak to me in whatever voices
a job, but with a sly smile he offered that my curious ears could hear, with whatever
all his previous students were working. I messages I could understand.
didn't need a weatherman—as they said in
those days, the early 1970s—to tell me I recall my first collection as an intern,
which way the wind was blowing. the first I would take charge of from be-
ginning to end—is it possible I still remem-
So, it was an accident in good guidance ber this more than twenty years later, like
that got me in the door. But it was the a first date? It was the records of a local
experience of doing archival work—begin- settlement house. The building itself had
ning with simplest class exercises and then been razed, a casualty of 1960s urban re-
a formal internship—that sealed it for me. newal. I knew nothing of the settlement
10 American Archivist / Winter 1991
house, although I lived nearby and could still Like most folks, I suppose, I go off to my
see remnants of the Italian-American neigh- job each morning with little thought to what
borhood it once served. Of the collection I it is that sustains my enthusiasm, in this
especially remember the photographs, some case for some twenty years. Perhaps these
of them taken for a neighborhood garden reflections will convey to you, and even
contest. Old men in undershirts and women reveal to me, something of what being an
in house dresses, amidst great clusters of to- archivist means.
mato vines, stared out at me from four dec-
ades before. And the minutes and reports, Some background. My father and my
dutifully prepared by the students and imi- grandfather were, among other things,
tators of Jane Addams, with their predictable craftsmen, skilled machinists. Whether for
WASP views, recorded a world they had come lack of aptitude or—I suspect—in quiet re-
to make over and which now, only a few bellion, I turned away from industry to more
decades later, had vanished. academic interests. But who knows better
than archivists that our pasts—personal and
It was my job, I knew, to be imaginative communal—are never left entirely behind.
in listening to these records. My judgments And how fitting, then, that today my mas-
would be critical to building paths to them tery of the craft of "doing archives" should
for generations of researchers, across the en- be so important to my sense of personal
tire spectrum of topics, and into unknown and professional identity.
future time. Pretty heady stuff for someone
who had devoted much of his—admittedly I didn't become a skilled archivist over-
quite brief—adult life to writing term papers night, of course. After an introductory class
for required courses. (Years later I still was and an internship, I served, in effect, an
crushed to learn that despite my best efforts extended apprenticeship (although we never
and great enthusiasm the collection had to be called it that and only now do I recognize
entirely reprocessed—a learning experience what it really was). Senior colleagues, whose
for both intern and supervisor.) critical attention to my work was never
clouded by our warm personal relation-
The archival enterprise held another at- ships, honed my skills. In those ancient days,
tractive feature for me. For all the oppor- before word processing, I rewrote and re-
tunity to reconstruct the past captured in typed finding aids, memoranda, and re-
these documents and to imagine the future ports until I met their high standards. I
research they might support, I had a well- accompanied my colleagues to court-
defined task to accomplish, a product to houses, university campuses, attics, and
produce, techniques and methods for pro- basements. And they stood over my shoul-
ceeding, and standards against which my der as I analyzed records, proposed
work would be judged. There was rigor and processing plans, and replied to reference
disicipline; this was real work. And, as good inquiries. In a spirit of personal generosity
fortune would have it, I soon was getting and professional pride, they passed on to
paid to do it. me their craft and their wisdom. I wish I
had been as grateful then as I am now.
Well, Mary Jane, this has gone on per-
haps too long but your questions brought I began to understand the payoff for all
back a rush of recollections. this attention when I ventured out on my
own. The Crawford County courthouse in
Sincerely, Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, stands out in
John memory. My task was to survey a great
jumble of nineteenth-century court rec-
Dear Mary Jane: ords—some of them among the oldest in
Your question about the satisfactions of the state. Stored in a damp basement, the
being an archivist gives me some pause.
"Dear Mary Jane" 11
records were adjacent to the prison cell them; they don't brood over their mistakes,
in which the Winnebago Indian leader Red seen or unseen.
Bird had died in 1828. A single naked
light bulb revealed the iron manacles still Mary Jane, you've noticed that these days
hanging from the walls of the tiny rooms. precious little of my time is spent apprais-
It was an eerie place and a true archival ing, arranging, or describing archives. Is it
challenge. But I mustered my archival nostalgia for "real" archival work that sus-
knowledge and trusted my budding ar- tains me now, you might ask (if you were
chival instincts, and I succeeded in mak- less discreet)? Well, as manager and ad-
ing sense of the records, producing an ministrator, much of the satisfaction is sec-
intelligible survey report, and thereby in- ondhand. The funding proposal I help to
itiating a long process that eventually saved write and to massage through the bureauc-
some of these treasures. racy enables David—with temporary staff-
to turn an embarrassing backlog problem
Since then I have exercised, and ex- into an important research resource. With
panded, my archival skills in many lo- my advice and assistance Barbara scrounges
cations—although very few have been as time from our in-house editor and designer,
exotic and unpleasant as the Crawford coordinates staff review of her narrative text,
County courthouse basement. And, on selects illustrations, and the Archives Cen-
many of these occasions, I have been taken ter finally has a brochure announcing its
aback by the awe that the ordinary prac- program and services. Fath and I pore over
tice of archival techniques can inspire in a potential donation, as she reflects on its
nonarchivists. Part science, part art, and— appropriateness to our collection. A con-
when done properly—part showmanship, sensus emerges and she carries through with
our ability to quickly understand and the acquisition.
evaluate the record—especially when it is
old, large, or complex—is a unique facet Often, my role in all this is only to fa-
of our craft. So too is our ability to satisfy cilitate the work of others: clearing road-
research inquiries by applying our com- blocks in "the system," recognizing and
plex understandings of how and why the encouraging good work, coordinating ef-
historical record is created. Perhaps in forts. At other times I represent the Ar-
modesty, or perhaps because we devalue chives Center and its fifteen staff members
the everyday and familiar, we fail too often in the complex and unending rituals of
to appreciate our unique archival skills budget and policy planning that are the soul
and capabilities. of the modern bureaucracy. And, at appro-
priate moments, I lead—most often, I hope,
Most often, of course, my exercise of by example; least often by direct com-
archival mastery has no audience. I smile mand. My leadership—once again, I h o p e -
only to myself at how quickly I recognize sets larger goals and standards and moti-
a pattern of arrangement in a complex body vates and facilitates my colleagues' efforts.
of papers and how I determine the correct
provenance of a misplaced file. No one else Some days it doesn't work so well. We
will fully appreciate the concise accuracy have our crises of confidence and our fall-
of my well-constructed scope note. And, ings out. Yet, in the long run I know it
like a surgeon, I do bury my mistakes: the does work. We have created a viable ar-
unidentified negatives, left behind for dis- chival program. Historical records are pre-
posal and only later fully appreciated; the served and used. We have the support of
series misinterpreted and scheduled for de- our colleagues (and the respect of our com-
struction. Successful archivists relish their petitors). The individual efforts of dozens
unseen accomplishments and learn from of people combine to achieve our goals. It
is a different satisfaction from the exercise
12 American Archivist / Winter 1991
of my individual professional skills to Well, Mary Jane, you might ask what,
achieve mastery. I like them both. then, do I profess as an archivist? Most sim-
ply put: that what we archivists do is essen-
Sincerely, tial to the well-being of an enlightened and
John democratic society. No, not every step or
each day is so vital, but the sum of all our
Dear Mary Jane, efforts makes a critical difference. Of course,
As I reread my letter to you about the like all grand and abstract claims, this one is
at once self-evident and layered with com-
pleasures of mastering archival practice, I re- plex meanings. In my two decades in the
alize it neglects a critical source of the sat- profession, I have begun to discover some-
isfactions I find in my archival career. As a thing of its essential truth for me.
professional archivist, I have joined a com-
munity of colleagues who share not just a The archival record—and here I mean
common occupation but a common set of the total of what we look after as well as
values and commitments. We join in this the underlying principles of records keep-
profession in mutual self-interest and in the ing—is a bastion of a just society. In a just
pursuit of the larger public interests that we society, individual rights are not time-bound
espouse. and past injustices are reversible. Thus the
archival record has sustained the claims of
This notion of "profession" is much de- Native American peoples to lands and lib-
bated these days and much abused in the erties once unjustly denied them. And the
public parlance. After all, what do we make archival record will help to secure justice
of "professional" wrestling except that it for the victims of government actions forty
is done in public for large amounts of years ago downwind from the Hanford,
money? Well, we archivists rarely qualify Washington, nuclear installation.
on either score, but we do have many of
the other manifestations: a journal long on On a larger scale—beyond the rights of
footnotes and short on photographs; annual individuals—the archival record serves all
conventions where we stay up too late (or citizens as a check against a tyrannical gov-
at least we did when we were younger), ernment. We need look no further than the
and an esoteric jargon requiring a regularly Watergate and Iran-Contra scandals to see
revised glossary. More seriously, we do that without the documentary record there
share a body of common knowledge, prac- could have been no calling to account, no
tices, and standards for our work. Indeed, investigation, no prosecution. And that re-
much of our expanding professional liter- cord—the tapes, the documents, and all the
ature, our educational endeavor, our certi- rest—stands as witness in the future to those
fication program, and our committee work who would forget or rewrite that past.
is devoted to these matters.
The absence of outright scandal and of
But the notion of a "profession" also irreversible injustice is no guarantee of an
harkens back to a more old-fashioned idea: enlightened and democratic society. The
the idea that as "professionals" we have archival record assures our rights—as in-
something to "profess," something more dividuals and collectively—to our owner-
than devotion to the latest techniques. And ship of our history. As archivists who
further, that in this act of "professing" we maintain the integrity of the historical re-
tie our own self-interest to the well-being cord, we guard our collective past from be-
of the larger society so that our "profes- coming the mere creation of "official"
sion" is not merely that of a self-interested history. Fortunately, today there is little
clique, but, instead, a legitimate claim on threat to us from a centralized Orwellian
behalf of the greater public interest.
"Dear Mary Jane" 13
tyranny. Yet the continuing struggles of in- ologists, and all the others who preserve
dividuals and groups neglected or maligned the cultural record in its material form. We
by the dominant culture remind us that cen- are the colleagues of political leaders and
tral governments are not the only oppres- scholars, of jurists and journalists, of ar-
sors. African Americans, Native Americans, chitects and artists who would be faithful
and others are now recreating from the sur- to the integrity of the past in their interpre-
viving historical record a sense of their his- tation of it.
torical peoplehood too frequently denied to
them in the past. And they are struggling Well then, this is my joy in doing ar-
also to assure that the historical record in chives. To be, at once, a master practi-
the future does greater justice to the rich- tioner—with esoteric knowledge and
ness and truths of their pasts. uncommon skills—and a participant in the
most profoundly and universally human of
The history of the United States is all undertakings: to understand and pre-
uniquely one in which we—as individuals, serve the past on behalf of the future.
as ethnic groups, as localities, as genera-
tions—continually reinvent ourselves and Mary Jane, I would like to tell you much
then, like Huck Finn, light out for new ter- more about my profession: about the sense
ritory. All this places a special burden on of shared commitment to the archival mis-
the American archivist. Our society values sion; about the spirit of generosity and col-
the present and the future above all. And legiality; about the lifelong friendships. I
yet, from time to time, we turn back, al- would tell you, too, about the Society of
most in panic or desperation, to rediscover American Archivists which embodies so
and rethink where we have come from. To- much of the profession and through which
day, for example, we ask how the nation we have accomplished so much on its be-
fared in a previous era of massive immi- half. And, lastly, I would tell you of my
gration and how we brought the natural en- hopes for the profession: that we will over-
vironment to its current precarious state. If come centrifugal forces and embrace all who
we are successful as archivists, the histor- care for the historical record in all its forms;
ical record will speak for this past in a full that we will articulate the public interest in
and truthful voice. And, as a society, we preservation of the record; and that we will
will be wiser for understanding who and increase public understanding and support
where we have been. for our essential mission.
As I write these words, I am struck—as I would like to tell you all this, but per-
always—by the magnitude of our profes- haps better, I invite you to join me in this
sion's ambitions and responsibilities in profession, to share in our commitments,
contrast to our miniscule numbers. And then and to discover for yourself the larger (and
I recall—as I usually do—that it is pre- smaller) meanings in what we do. If this is
cisely the breadth of our professional val- your calling, I assure you lifelong chal-
ues that ties us to a wider community of lenges, a sense of community through par-
professions, institutions, and individuals. ticipation, good friends, and more than a
Our allies are all those who struggle to un- few good times. Let me know; I expect to
derstand and protect the past for the benefit follow this path for a good while longer. I
of the future. We are, from this enlarged hope you will come and walk with us.
perspective, truly the partners of librarians,
museum professionals, folklorists, archae- Sincerely,
John