26th November 2013, 01:49 PM
One of the reasons for accessing my digital archives is that I am presenting a paper at TAG 2013 (Bournemouth) Dec 16th-18th in the session on the Archaeology of Thatcherism. My theme is an examination of the effects of the Thatcher premiership on field archaeology in the period 1979-1990 (coincidentally the first 10 years of my career as a field archaeologist). As far as I can ascertain there has been no written history of this period in the development of UK field archaeology, although undoubtedly events and the underlying economic and social philosophy prevalent during that period have created the archaeological environment in which we now all strive. This was the basis of my creation of this thread.
There are private, informal and illuminating personal archives out there that can inform much of what we do today. Further examination shows that I have my own notes relating to archives, properly deposited in the proper place at the proper time, for which there was no money available for publication at the time, but the open-ended promise that at some future date, etc etc. I am not saying my notes make any difference to the archive, but they could potentially present an alternative view to that which a later researcher might infer from the raw data. We are encouraged (at least by English Heritage's 'The Power of Place') to encompass the multi-vocality of our heritage, but at least in terms of archiving we don't seem to have the systems in place to represent anything other than the black and white view of paper, film and object. Its a shame and I suspect as more and more of us old lags drop out of the scene over time, a loss to both our shared heritage and our profession.....
There are private, informal and illuminating personal archives out there that can inform much of what we do today. Further examination shows that I have my own notes relating to archives, properly deposited in the proper place at the proper time, for which there was no money available for publication at the time, but the open-ended promise that at some future date, etc etc. I am not saying my notes make any difference to the archive, but they could potentially present an alternative view to that which a later researcher might infer from the raw data. We are encouraged (at least by English Heritage's 'The Power of Place') to encompass the multi-vocality of our heritage, but at least in terms of archiving we don't seem to have the systems in place to represent anything other than the black and white view of paper, film and object. Its a shame and I suspect as more and more of us old lags drop out of the scene over time, a loss to both our shared heritage and our profession.....
With peace and consolation hath dismist, And calm of mind all passion spent...