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Archives and libraries are among the most expensive real-estate in the Western World.  Long ago most repositories ran out of space, simple SPACE; no matter how large the institutional building, most libraries and archives have developed (largely unidentified) off-site storage places.  With many institutions, these off-site buildings themselves are now overflowing.  Every cubic foot, every square inch, is jealously protected.  Most of the large, and not so large, institutions refuse donations of any kind.

Curators of collections, as well as curators of manuscripts, guard the doors and rebuff most inquiries.  There is no room.  There is no space.  There are very real questions about funding.  Archivists spend most of their time “managing” collections.  “Managing” means culling, weeding, and discarding.  They do not spend any time whatsoever attempting to acquire trash-work or junk-work.

Archives and libraries KNOW their own collections, and develop them according to organized plans.

Under these circumstances, to suggest, as “David Lace” suggests, that there are large numbers of people queueing up to plead that their unpublished chapbook or unpublished manuscript be added to institutional collections for purposes of “posthumous recognition” is outrageous if not puerile.  It would be even more outrageous to suggest that librarians and archivists are cooperating with such nonsense.

The current theory-and-practice of most libraries in North America (and in Ireland, Scotland, England, Wales, France, Germany et al) is to cull and discard ANY book which has not been checked-out or otherwise examined during the last three years.  (Any book which does not meet that library's collection strategy is not added to the collection in the first place.)

If achieving “fame” is the objective for some of you, there are much easier ways to do it than stand like a beggar before a closed fortress !

Once again superficial notions have triggered a sophomoric blogging exchange on this e-list.  There really are serious problems and difficulties confronting all poets, small-press publishers, micro-press publishers, etc.  But, instead of struggling with the real issues, we are being asked simply to be entertained by adolescent gibberish, insults, put-downs, and mindless jests.

For meaningful discussions,

Séamas Cain

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On Fri, Aug 26, 2016 at 9:31 AM, David Lace <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Not being a poet myself, I’m fascinated by the concept of posthumous recognition for ones poetry. Some poets I know of are also fascinated by it, and have gone to some lengths to ensure that their poetry (indeed also themselves) gain some sort of posthumous recognition. Many of them have been quite proactive in this regard, and have taken measures to ensure that their poetic output (and other relevant miscellany) is regularly deposited in various university archives and Special Collection departments around the world. Are there any on this list who this applies to, and if so can you tell us something about your motivations and experiences of doing this.