Local History

Collections and
Stewardship:
Why We Preserve

By: Mary Salata

Dominican University, LIS 701
December 1, 2020
 History is everywhere around us. There is no escaping the stories that haunt hallways,

the monuments that salute times past, and all of the other physical incarnations of it, if their

traditions are honored by a formidable institution such as a library, museum, or archive. In

many ways, these ghosts among us are positive things that, though in the past, can have a

profound impact on today’s society, and the ways in which we move forward.

It is for this reason, no doubt, that the American Library Association lists “preservation”

as one of their core values. This core value, however, cannot exist without the support of many,

which demands that preservation find meaning and motivation in other such values. When we

consider the reasons for preservation, we come to understand how it is driven by “the public

good” and “social responsibility.” (American Library Association [ALA], 2019).

Many different types of things can be preserved on a local historical level. This can

include information provided in various forms of incarnation. Documents, books, videos, and

audio recordings are just a few mediums that are frequently abundant in institutions that seek

to preserve information such as libraries, archives, and museums (Phillips, 1995). However,

particularly when it comes to local history, the format of this information can truly become

anything. Physical artifacts can be an advertising flyer, a hair comb, a desk, or really anything

else that has ever existed. The key difference between that item that is selected to be

preserved and any other old item that could be saved, though, is that it has been deemed that

particular item has about it important information – an important story – that must be

preserved for all to potentially benefit from. Sometimes this item is selected because of its

rarity – it may be the only surviving example of what it is. Other times, it is germane to an

important historical event, or a notable person in history.

 By preserving these items, information professionals become custodians not only of the

physical item, but also of the information that item has to present. Doing this fosters access to

history, and helps us to be aware of the huge complexity of society today and its issues. We

cannot understand what we are today and why, without understanding where we have come

from. Additionally, learning information about the past helps people to realize that many issues

we face are not unprecedented (National WWI Museum and Memorial, 2014). Information

needs to be preserved because doing so safeguards traditional knowledge, culture, identity,

language, and the histories of people (UNESCO, 2019).

When we narrow the scope of inquiry into history to local history, the concept of

preservation becomes uniquely personal. While much study of history naturally works from the

top down, local history instead works from the ground up (Phillips, 1995). “Cultural content is a

pure public good, something that can be used by many and yet never used up” (Smith, 2007). It

is not only across time but many different people which the responsibility of preservation is

distributed (Dubin, Futrelle, Plutchak, & Eke, 2009). We preserve, in order to understand, and

to be able to move forward, hopefully productively, as a community or as a society. No matter

the differences in any given community, institutions that seek to preserve information are in a

position to provide information as a means to protect society and the collective interests held

by them as a whole in access to cultural heritage (Smith, 2007).

It is impossible to preserve everything, though nearly everything could have potential

argument in favor of its preservation. A discussion on the cost of preservation for institutions

and society as a whole is beyond the scope of this paper, however it is worth noting that when

we consider this personal level of history and why it should be preserved, we must not consider
what we can cost effectively afford to keep, but rather, what (if anything) we can afford to lose

(Smith, 2007). Many artifacts which institutions seek to preserve were never designed to last

the testament of time. Thus, preserving and storing them can be a costly venture.

Understanding the value of preserving such items, for the public good, and so that society can

act responsibly, puts to scale the monetary cost of preservation. While preservation can be a

costly monetary venture, the lasting value that it guarantees can go above and beyond the

initial value of any given item.

Preservation has the potential to offer access to artifacts which can, in their own turn,

create an increased sense of attachment to a community, city, country, government, or any

other organized form of society. “The ultimate societal benefit of preservation is, of course, to

ensure the well-being of the population and the survival of our society, and indeed, our species.

Given that information is a constitutive force in society, all aspects of its integrity,

completeness, authenticity, and accessibility are profoundly important” (Smith, 2007).

In some cases, the information that is preserved on a local history level may be heavily

dosed in personal opinions of community members past. There is an old quote by Bill Bullard

that goes, “Opinion is really the lowest form of human knowledge. It requires no accountability,

no understanding. The highest form of knowledge… is empathy, for it requires us to suspend

our egos and live in another’s world. It requires profound purpose larger than the self kind of

understanding.” While many would argue that the histories we learn today are biased, opinion-

based even, written by the victorious party of any given engagement and thus skewed in their

version of events, it is important that we have the opportunity to study these encounters. If, in
fact, the histories which we encounter are biased, it is all the more important that we have

primary sources to examine so as to come to our own conclusions.

Local history is particularly important because it is personal history. In these cases, it is

not the artifacts (or monuments, documents, or any other form of tangible history) that

preserve the stories of people in a distant land with a distant sense of life, but rather these

things preserve the sense of oneself, and potentially the people we associate with, day in and

day out. In these situations, it is possible that we may not even have known we have available

these remarkable resources; once found, and understood, they can become invaluable.

Humans, in general, often make an effort to preserve histories on their own. We do this

through simple and often overlooked items such as family photo albums. In all of us, the

emotional pull to maintain items that remind us of things we hope never to forget, and to have

to pass on, is a strong one.

Preserving items has obvious emotional implications. More than that, when considering

local history in particular, it can become a deeply personal and emotional issue of what should

survive. The ALA Code of Ethics articulates that the ALA stands firmly behind the principles of

intellectual freedom, and thus encourage libraries and other information institutions to resist

the efforts to censor library resources (ALA, 2008). While something may be controversial,

difficult, emotionally distressing, or even dangerous to maintain, there may be a need for

access to examine it moving forward.

Information professionals such as librarians and archivists have a responsibility to

recognize what should be maintained, and cognitively decide to do so based on the potential
value of these resources (Cloonan, 2007). Such information and artifacts can prove to evoke

emotions that benefit the institutions themselves, such as awe and curiosity, both of which are

pleasurable sensations that predict continued engagement that ultimately benefits the

institution providing access (Smith, 2007). The benefits are not solely limited to the institutions,

however, and that is why I believe the ALA lists preservation as a core value.

So what, in the context of information sciences, is preservation, exactly? Definitions

vary. Collecting is not necessarily an accurate synonym. Simply acquiring items deemed to be

artifacts and housing them in an institution may not be the only means of preservation.

However, often institutions such as libraries and museums seek the initiative to preserve

objects believed to be relevant to history, past, and the greater good, moving forward, and so

they become custodians of these objects. (Cloonan, 2007). Once these objects are in their care,

it is up to them to ensure said objects are preserved for all to benefit from.

It is important for these items to be accessible to the public through institutions such as

libraries. While accessibility has an evolving definition, greatly influenced by the introduction of

technology, it remains key. Perhaps having objects open for the public to consume may

increase their likelihood of destruction, simply because it is not as safe for the items to be

handled or even observed as it would be for them to be locked away. This potential loss of

material is compensated for by what we can learn from said material. If these items were not to

see the light of day and be utilized by the public, they might as well have never been preserved

at all. Had they been preserved, but not available for public inquiry, they might well have never

existed at all (Cloonan, 2007).

 Nothing is created without having an initial value, whatever, and whenever, that may

be. Preservation not only honors the initial value of an artifact, but also a secondary value

rooted in what we can utilize the express knowledge of an artifact for moving forward. This is

often different than an item’s original intended purpose, but no less valuable (Smith, 2007). In

fact, this secondary value can indeed be greater than the initial value.

In considering potential secondary values, we return to examining two other key core

values of the ALA that are honored by the concept of preservation. The public good is one of

the most notable values of institutions such as libraries. The access to information they provide

- unfiltered, unbiased, and equitable - cannot be rivaled by any other institution in modern

society. This access to information opens the door for an educated population, who (if this

access is curated correctly) has had the opportunity to evaluate facts and opinions about their

chosen topic, in order to lead lives that are better informed. The potentially far reaching ripple

effects of an informed population is limitless, because increased knowledge cannot help but

influence decision making.

Preservation of information and its ultimate dissemination can also relate deeply to the

ALA core value of social responsibility. The ALA defines social responsibility as it relates to

institutions as, “the contribution that librarianship can make in ameliorating or solving the

critical problems of society; support for efforts to help inform and educate the people of the

United States on these problems and to encourage them to examine the many views on and

the facts regarding each problem.” (ALA, 2019). As previously discussed, an understanding of

local history and the concept that no issue is totally unprecedented in the history of the world,

can lead to a better understanding of modern issues and how to move forward.
 In addition to just increasing understanding, preservation can also have more active

influence. Understanding can lead to emotional bonds formed with places or environments that

are meaningful or personal, resulting in place attachment. When people experience place

attachment, they are more likely to undertake action to protect it, and also more likely to

become civically engaged in that place (Stefaniak & Bilewicz, 2017). This place attachment may

not lead immediately to direct action, but may come about more indirectly as a person

increases their interest in history and personal ties to a place. Learning about local history can

even lead people to appropriate to that place even if it is new to them. A study carried out by

Stefaniak and Bilewicz found that among middle and high school students, there was a

confirmed positive influence on interest in local history, place attachment, and social capital

measures – such as willingness to be involved in civic engagement and a higher level of social

trust (Stefaniak & Bilewicz, 2017).

It is in this way that preservation of local history is of value to all levels of research

(Phillips, 1995). Whether an amateur, professional, or academic – or even, as in the Stefaniak

and Bilewicz study, a teenager – preservation and ultimate study of local history is uniquely

important thanks to the secondary value of this information. Libraries, archives, and museums

work to protect this information, and promote it, for not only the sake of the information itself

but for its impact on the greater good in democratic society.

When we consider how far-reaching the effects of simply hanging on to an item for the

sake of the information it provides can be, we begin to understand the importance of

preservation. Though preservation is not truly as simple as just hanging on to something, and in

fact requires careful stewardship, it is a special concept because it enables something that is of
a time past to have a substantial effect on the present or even on the future. By having

information professionals who are trained not only in identifying potentially valuable

information and artifacts, but also in maintaining these items for as long as is feasibly possible

without obscuring their value by restricting access to them, we guarantee our communities an

opportunity to educate themselves and thus make better decisions moving forward. In a world

where there are many different opinions and divisiveness seems to be everywhere, it is

important to have institutions that protect primary sources of information on history so that

they are open to all, regardless of shifting public opinion.

 BIBLIOGRAPHY

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