As predicted in today's paper. Three very busy blogging weeks ahead!
The past two days have seen a blundering archivist at work. He has never followed the rules of the professional. That is, to store safely, catalogue accurately (with appropriate cross-references), and have proper retrieval procedures. Now time is catching up with this amateur. The cardboard boxes are being unearthed, the contents spread across every inch of level flat space in the house, and the goodies being unruffled and placed first in categories, then assigned spaces and places of their own.
The thought behind this action has been of long-standing. But stand it did, without any movement. Until recently. The German Film Archives made a generous and irresistible offer to restore a film completed 28 years ago. Which brought the chronicler instinct to the fore. But simultaneously raised many questions.
We realise that certain of the records and artifacts are of international interest. Those we have separated from the family treasures. We also know from experience that Archives tend to be preoccupied with preservation and are anything but “user-friendly”. And those with an hospitable bent are scattered in nooks and crannies around the globe. So what to do with this conglomeration?
One option is to digitize and open our own cyber-archives, then hand the originals over to the best caretakers wherever they may be. But who would caretake the cyber-archives?
And of course we must first write the book before relinquishing the source material. He says with a wry grin.
And the odd item may be of interest to our children. Like the glass-framed original silhouette of Galahad at the completion of the Quest when the ghostly maidens enter the hall. And he cries out, “In the name of God, stay a moment!”
Illustration by Lotte Reiniger from Roger Lancelyn Green’s book, King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table [1953 - Penguin]