03 July 2009

Archives and Muniments

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Most of the last week has been spent in an archive, and the hay fever which started to take hold a couple of years ago, has been aggravated this year by whatever lives in dirty old papers.

But it's worth it!
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3 comments:

Ches said...

Which archives and what have you found?

5 July 2009 at 13:51
Ttony said...

TNA then on to a couple of private collections. What have I found? Nothing publishable in itself - no Eureka! documents - but gradually piecing together the mood of a set of participants who ended up taking part in an administrative disagreement in 1942 which led to a minor reorganisation.

There are no more than about 10 people in the world who care about this, and I don't even know if I count myself among their number, but, especially when your job or career don't depend on it (yes, lucky old me!), the temptation of scholarship for its own sake is ineluctable.

You pick up a file that was closed during the war, and was reviewed at the 30 year point and was deemed worth saving, and realise that you are the first person to flick through its contents since the participants and - you either get this or you don't - you are touching history.

5 July 2009 at 17:59
Ches said...

Know exactly where you are historically. Sadly, I'm not professionally in the spot yet!

6 July 2009 at 08:41

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