Historian
Monday, August 22, 2005
As a graduate of History I often find myself thinking about the way we preserve our pasts. This goes both along the lines of personal as well as social history. I think about the things I have saved from my life, and they really only represent the last 6 years. My parent's collection spans far more than that, and yet they did not keep every toy I ever played with or every shirt I ever wore.
What about socially? Presidents build massive libraries to house the volumes of papers that may or may-never mean anything to the public they serve. Yet Governors do not, Senators do not, Representatives do not, and with exceptions in certain states most of these people serve longer. Our technology advances with leaps and bounds. Should we be keeping every microchip? Computer? Software program? Probably not, but then..
This begs the question, "how do we decide?" Clearly it can't just be anything we 'think' is important. Often the things that will be important are only understood as such in hindsight. Seriously, how often have you looked back and said "I wish I had kept (photographed/copied/etc) that." So, how do you decide?
posted by ZEUS @ 10:52 PM,
