thevillagecharlatan

What kinds of archives are interesting? People tend to like archives that contain one or more of the following: love letters, pieces of specially minted currency, circus memorabilia, people in European cultures doing something oppressive or touristic to people in non-Euro cultures, and manuscripts (bonus if handwritten). Thinking about choosing a brand new and unknown archive has made me think about what my interests really, really are. I am hoping to find a medical archive with lots of pregnancy photos, or advice given to pregnant women in times other than our own. I might like to learn about how people in times other than our own conceived of The Future. What were their plans? Did they make drawings of the future? Did the popularization of science make people start thinking more and more about the future? (That last one is kind of taken.) I also found myself looking on the internet at archives involving people’s travels to Italian colonies between 1860 and 1960. I don’t ever run into anyone mentioning remnants of Italian culture in, say, Libya or Ethiopia. Lots of interest in French Algeria but very little in Italian Somaliland. Also, there’s always gay fucking, pedophilia, dyke murders, or some other equally prurient concern. Is there an archive about prurience? Don’t steal that one. It’s mine.

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