Recently, I have been reading a lot about the role of archives, as well as archivists, in the preservation of memory, and this made me start thinking about my own relationship with the archive and those who use it. A particular focus of this train of thought has been looking at the notes that get passed between the users of the archives. As most of the time I tend to be in the archive working on my projects on my own, looking at this aspect of the archive has made me consider how much interaction there truly is between archivists, even if it’s not very overt.
Sometimes, there are notes left for me that are simply related to requests from researchers for documents to be digitized. These are typically short, often consisting of a stack of books with “MAIKI!!!” written on a mini sticky note to signify that this is the stack of documents that I have been asked to digitize. These types of notes are genuinely fun to find, partly because of the fun we have being silly in these notes and partly because it means that a fellow archivist has helped me with my work by putting together the documents necessary for digitization.
Beyond these sticky notes, there are some more extensive exchanges. Every Wednesday when I come into the archive, I always make sure to visit the boxes of Tommy Tomson’s photos that are set out at the desks in the middle of the archive. I have been digitizing his photo collection for months, and now some members of the Bibliograafia Klubi are looking at these paper photos and recording information about who is pictured in them. Over the weeks that we have all been working with this collection simultaneously, we have left each other notes to help us navigate our workflow.
In my notes, I try to indicate what information I have learned—like in what years the photos are supposedly taken, as recorded by Tommy Tomson (a photographer of the Estonian-Canadian community) himself—hopefully giving them a better understanding of what to expect. Sometimes, we leave each other notes about the status of the boxes, or if I bring a new box to the table because they’re finishing up their current box. I can also follow the paper trail of their work through their initials on the envelopes, denoting that they’ve looked through those photos. On more recent envelopes, they’re helping out the next users of the collection by recording the name of the events that are pictured.
Archives are meant to be used, and these notes only add to the history, character, and story of the archive. It’s important to the health of the archive that the collections are engaged with and that the materials are highlighted.
There are also non-collections-related conversations that take place through notes. Many of these are merely goodbyes from visitors to the archives, mostly in the form of returning items back to people by way of the archive. This can be an archive-user’s fob or a borrowed outlet adapter left on the centre desk. But these goodbyes can also be a little more extensive, such as the index card note I received from Katariina Päts when she was headed back home after doing research in the VEMU archive, saying that we’ll keep in touch both through our korporatsioon and our shared research interests.
The penchant for writing notes seems to not only be limited within our archive, but extends to those whom we interact with abroad, too. Our latest shipment of books to Estonia in December also included notes on the outside plastic wrapping, sending greetings and holiday wishes.
To some, these notes are mundane scraps of paper left around the archive. But I really see the value of considering them as signs of relationships forming through the archive and the appreciation that is grown for the space because of it. Archives are meant to be used, and these notes only add to the history, character, and story of the archive. It’s important to the health of the archive that the collections are engaged with and that the materials are highlighted.
In an era where questions of archive digitization, and more broadly digital media, are so prevalent in everyday life, it’s nice to see that the archive is still a place where picking up a pencil and paper is the most effective and efficient form of technology and connection.
And, as I know that this article will now also probably become archived and have a place on the VEMU shelf, I’ll leave a note here for future archivists and researchers: jõudu tööle!! (lit. “strength for work!”).
