Event | How We Listen: Behind the Boxes…When Archivists Get Personal About Their Own Family Histories

Posted on by Kimberly Springer

 

Join the Oral History Archives at Columbia for a candid conversation that explores where the professional world ends and the personal one begins!

A banner for an event titled "Behind the Boxes: When Archivists Get Personal About Their Own Family Histories." The title text is in a large, monospace font on the left side, set against a bright teal background with a faint green-and-yellow, swirling, ghosted pattern. To the right of the text is a low-resolution, color image that appears to be a still from an older video recording. It shows three people, possibly children or teenagers, holding hands and standing in a line. Below the main title and image, smaller text centered on the banner reads: "a candid talk with David Walker (Archivist at The Easton Foundation & Louise Bourgeois Archive) on memory, meaning, and the records we keep".

What happens when archivists confront their own family histories?

On Tuesday (11.18), as part of the Oral History Archives’ How We Listen series, join us for a conversation with David Walker, Archivist at The Easton Foundation & Louise Bourgeois Archive.

We’ll have a conversation about insights and conflicts faced by experts who apply their professional technical know-how to their most intimate, personal archives. How do you balance professional ethics with the deep emotional resonance of one’s own childhood memories and family scrapbooks? Get a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the challenges and rewards of archiving the self.

Inspired by David’s article, “Professional Meets Personal: Archivists and Their Family Archives” we’ll discuss: what happens when archivists confront their own family histories?

David Walker is an archivist at The Easton Foundation & Louise Bourgeois Archive in New York City. He received his MLS from CUNY Queens College in 2021 and a BA in photography from Earlham College in 2014. He is an active member of the Archivists Round Table of Metropolitan New York and serves as the Arts & Culture Editor of its online publication, the Metropolitan Archivist, where he recently contributed a piece about the intersection of professional archival work and personal family archives.

In addition to David’s article, here’s some suggested browsing in advance of the session:

Here are some projects to browse in advance of the session:

Inuuteq Storch’s Porcelain Souls

Lee Friedlander’s Family in the Picture, 1958 – 2013

Black Bottom Archives (Detroit)

Michael McMillan’s Front Room Installations

Due to PEBCAK, the session wasn’t recorded. But due to excellent student reporting, you can read all about the session on the Bwog website (it’s “Bwog” not “BWOG” so don’t @ me).