[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Patriot pile on



I did want to touch on a couple of things discussed on the list.

Regarding children and history, there are so many things that can keep a
child excited about history. On the 4th my husband and I had a party and
most of the invitees were from the library and archives community in and
around DC. One guest was the five year old son of an archivist and a
librarian. Toward the end of the evening I pulled out my tape of "America
Rock" the series that ABC used to run in the 70's between cartoons (this
was part of the Grammar Rock and Multiplication Rock series). The son was
enraptured and I noticed nearly all of us singing along with "I'm Just a
Bill", "Sufferin Until Suffrage", "The Premable to the Constitution" (which
several of us noted helped us with tests) and "Fireworks on the 4th of
July". For those of us who were young when these were popular, I wonder
if these pop classics had an impact on our choice of career.

Related to that I've been reading the what document or event made you
happiest to be an archivist. I'll be honest, though it thrills me to see
Thomas Jefferson's original rough draft of the Declaration of
Independence or to see an Edison film that shows immigrants arriving at
Ellis Island, knowing the stories behind the materials, and the
interesting tidbits and being able to share that with people is what
makes me happy to be doing what I'm doing. Though to me it is important
to arrange and describe our collections, it is just as important to let
our publics know what we have, to show them how to use it and to help
them to see the importance and the stories behind these materials. I love
being a teacher, a reference archivist, a person who looks for creative
ways to help our users use the materials we are working to save. That's
why I love America Rock; I know the preamble of the consititution by
heart thanks to the ability to make memorization easy and fun. I like the
work many of us are doing to help teachers use historic documents and the
growth of History Day throughout the United States. I like Archives Week
and the programs we are developing. I am hopeful that someday we will
have an Archives Legislative Day so that we can remind our legislators
about the importance of preserving our history and the need for their
support.

Off the soapbox and on to work.

Danna Bell-Russel
Learning Center Specialist
(but an archivist and teacher at heart)
National Digital Library Learning Center
Library of Congress

A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!

To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to listserv@listserv.muohio.edu
      In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
                    *or*:  UNSUB ARCHIVES
To post a message, send e-mail to archives@listserv.muohio.edu

Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html

Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>