What is the Role of the
Archivist
in Documenting
Society in a Society that is
Increasingly Documenting
Itself?
Ten geleide
Family history
Laura Millar I
Laura Millar is onderzoeker, universitair docent en consultant
archief- en informatiemanagement. Millar schrijft spraak
makende boeken en artikelen over records management,
information management, personal archives, participatory
archives en documentation strategies. Haar boek Archives:
Principles and Practices werd in 2011 bekroond door de
Society of American Archivists. Op 29 oktober 2014 hield zij
een lezing voor KVAN-leden rondom de vraag: Do archivists
have a documenting role in a society that increasingly
documents itself? Bij deze de integrale versie van die lezing.
Redactie Archievenblad
'I am delighted to be here in the Netherlands, at such a lovely
time of year. I am grateful to everyone who worked so hard to
make this trip possible; and my particular thanks go to Liane
van der Linden and Theo Thomassen for all their kind efforts
on my behalf.
I would like to start my remarks today with a small story,
which begins with my visit to Amsterdam a year ago, when my
husband and I enjoyed a lovely lunch with Theo, followed by a
visit to the Amsterdams Historisch Museum. After our time in
Amsterdam and then in Brussels for the Conference of the
International Council on Archives, my husband and I travelled
to Ieper and other First World War sites in Belgium and France.
On our return home to Canada, I grew curious about my
P
Laura Millar (photo: www.irmt.org).
grandfather's time in that war. I knew that my father had served
in the Second World War, and that his father had served in both
the First and Second Wars. I had once seen digital copies of my
grandfather's First World War attestation papers, after typing his
name into a computer terminal at the Canadian War Museum in
Ottawa and getting a 'hit' that led me to his 1916 enlistment
record. But I knew little more than that. Indeed, I know virtually
nothing about my ancestors, near or far, which is a consequence
of a highly fraught and complicated family history.
So I decided to sign up with Ancestry.ca and see what I could
learn from this rather mysterious genealogical tool. I had some
reservations, as you can imagine; I knew I was descending the
slippery slope from 'archivist' to 'genealogist'. But the need to
know about my grandfather was pressing enough to draw me
to the dark side.
30 2015 nummer 1
