The Archival Object: A Memoir of Disintegration
Abstract
In archives, objects are often both physically and intellectually separated from textual and visual materials, even when they arrive as part of a larger manuscript or archival collection. But like other documents, objects are inscribed and can be "read" within the context of their creation. This essay uses a particular collection of objects – the artist and writer David Wojnarowicz’s Magic Box, which is part of his papers housed in the New York University Fales Library and Special Collections Downtown Collection – to examine how archival concepts such as provenance, context, description, and inscription are complicated by the presence of objects in archives. By looking at the case of an actual object collection in archives, along with both the writings of its creator and theoretical writings outside the field of archives, this essay asks how a re-examination of the role of objects in archives can contribute to our understandings of the dual symbolic and material value of all archival documents.
RÉSUMÉ
Dans les centres d’archives, les objets sont souvent séparés physiquement et intellectuellement des documents textuels et visuels, même quand ils font partie d’une grande acquisition de documents d’archives. Cependant, les objets, comme les autres documents, ont une valeur de témoignage et peuvent être « lus » dans leur contexte de création. Ce texte se sert d’une collection d’objets spécifique – la Magic Box [Boîte magique] de l’artiste-auteur David Wojnarowicz, qui fait partie des ses documents conservés à la New York University Fales Library and Special Collections Downtown Collection – afin d’examiner comment la présence d’objets dans des fonds d’archives complique des concepts archivistiques comme la provenance, le contexte, la description et l’enregistrement. En se servant d’un exemple concret d’une collection d’objets dans un fonds d’archives, ainsi que des textes du créateur de cette collection et des écrits théoriques provenant de l’extérieur de la discipline archivistique, ce texte explore comment un nouvel examen de la place des objets aux archives peut mener à une meilleure connaissance de la double valeur symbolique et matérielle de tout document d’archives.
Authors of manuscripts accepted for publication retain copyright in their work. They are required to sign the Agreement on Authors' Rights and Responsibilities that permits Archivaria to publish and disseminate the work in print and electronically. In the same agreement, authors are required to confirm that "the material submitted for publication in Archivaria, both in its paper and electronic versions, including reproductions of other works (e.g. photographs, maps, etc.) does not infringe upon any existing copyright." Authors of manuscripts accepted for publication retain copyright in their work and are able to publish their articles in institutional repositories or elsewhere as long as the piece is posted after its original appearance on archivaria.ca. Any reproduction within one year following the date of this agreement requires the permission of the General Editor.
