In response to Gillian Whichelo's note:
First, it sounds a very interesting programme, and
encouraging at least in the sense that someone in
the media thought that such a hunt would make good
television!
And yes, I do agree; I was getting such a chuckle out of
the 'we are what we wear' postings that I couldn't
resist throwing my tuppence in, but she and the others are
absolutely right as well, that the more serious
consideration of 'image' is not how we attire ourselves but
whether people think archives, etc., are remote,
irrelevant, difficult, or even impossible affairs.
Admittedly we are living in a culture of that ever more
demands immediate results ('instant gratification') in
exchange for little effort expended, which makes people
simply not inclined to patiently put the work in which
would reward them if only they would. Our society also
tends more and more to mistake 'information' for
'knowledge'. We 'happy few, we band of brothers' mightn't
be able to change the course of our culture, but perhaps we
have to think along these lines and consider how in such
circumstances to continue to woo peoples' minds with the
rich rewards gained from exploring and researching the
past. What shall be our practical response?
Rather garbled (as is my wont) but at least a more serious
tuppence!
Best wishes,
Mandy
Mandy Marvin
Medical Records Archivist
University of Exeter
On Thu, 11 Apr 2002 17:19:40 +0100 Fred Whichelo
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I have been reading these Emails with interest and they are all very amusing
> However
> I was a bit concerned to watch a local tv programme on BBC Northern Ireland
> on Monday evening. It was all about finding the history of of one's street
> and hearing the views of the people on camera. I do not know whether the
> archivists in N. Ireland would like to comment.
>
> The programme is all about 2 people on a street finding out about their area
> within 3 hours. They were asked to find out about a person who lived on
> their street and so had to look up the relevant baptismal records. One of
> the contestants said that they did not know where the Archive was located
> and the other said that they did know where PRONI was located but they said
> that there was not much point going there as it would take them hours to
> find out the information and it would be much better to visit the local
> church.
>
> I would argue that this view of the archive as time-consuming and difficult
> to locate is much more problematic that discussing whether or not we should
> wear cardigans and NHS glasses.
>
> Gillian Whichelo
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