Archives Work – What do I do?
My brother asked me the other day what it was that I did in the archives. He had a vision of gas lights and catacombs and old parchment paper. I gave him the run down and I’ll post it here also because I’ve had the question from others. Dear Brother! I like the catacomb vision although sadly, this isn't totally the case here in modern industrialized Britain. I mostly just go into this big building that sits on a man-made lake (next to the Thames) and then I go upstairs to where some guards in jackets ask to look through my stuff and then I swipe a card that lets me pass. Then I swipe my card again and it tells me my seat assignment and cubby number for the day (usually 27D). Then I go to my cubby and pull out the dusty old whatevers I’m looking at. For instance, today I looked at whole books of correspondence, called CO from the Colonial Office. Apparently, way back in the day (i.e. the eighteenth century, and possibly before and after too), when noble men wrote letters to each oth...
Comments
Post a Comment