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How To Build Your Own Archive

In a world of disappearing media, have you ever thought about creating your own archive?

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What Is an Archive?

A collection of historical records, ephemera, and materials

Types of Archives

  • Personal- The story of you and/or your family history

  • Institutional- Government, Organizations, Universities, Religious Institutions, etc

  • Niche/Historical- Preservation of a person, event, era, specific subject, idea, region, state, country, etc

Reasons to Start an Archive

  • Things disappear from the internet and streaming services every day-- let's prevent endless accusations of The Mandela Effect in the future by archiving our surroundings!

  • Speaking of, keeping well-maintained records helps future historians do their jobs

  • But also, it’s fun and important to preserve topics you care about--especially when powerful institutions ignore them. You'd be surprised how many people share an interest in what you want to collect and study!

Archive Collectibles

  • Letters

  • Maps

  • Newspapers

  • Photos & Art

  • Emails

  • Speech Transcripts & Audio

  • Oral Histories & Interviews

  • Videos & Music

  • Magazines & Books

  • Advertisements

  • Pamphlets & Flyers

  • Press Releases

  • Social Media Posts

  • Tax & Accounting Docs

  • Court records

  • Academic Papers & Studies

  • Websites

  • Diaries


Keep reading for tips and tricks on how to Build Your Own Archive!


Labeling 101

As you accumulate more and more materials, details may get fuzzy as time passes! Keep your collection polished by labeling as much as possible.


Labeling 101: Basic description Date created Date acquired Author/Creator/Publisher Subject Keywords Location


Keep a Mixed Filing System

Strictly relying on one or the other is risky-- though I will admit I am an analog girl at heart so I'm biased.


Digital:

  • Cloud services, backup drives

  • Con: Costs more $ and subject to power/internet whims

  • Accessible from anywhere


Analog

  • Index cards, printing, handwritten notes, etc

  • Mostly Free

  • Con: Takes up a lot of physical space


General Tips

  • Keep a central list of where you download/ find everything (so you can cite and go back later for more goodies)

  • Screenshot and record everything instead of strictly linking/embedding

  • For physical media, use plastic sleeves, make copies, and keep things in folders

  • Make scans of expensive library books and reference guides

  • Learn specialized preservation methods (like how to back up DVDs to your PC!)

  • Some pieces of your collection may be examples of misinformation, sarcasm, memes, etc that are not meant to be taken at face value as serious facts. These could still serve a purpose, but make sure to notate this in the description for future historians! It may also be a good idea to ‘translate’ slang for posterity.

  • Save things across platforms!

    • Backup videos to cloud software, but keep those same videos on a hard drive

    • Download webpages and “print” pdfs! Back those up to cloud software and a hard drive.


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Bonus Inspiration: How One Hoarder Turned Her Passion Into History

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Marion Stokes was a former librarian, TV producer, communist, and lifelong social justice advocate from Philadelphia who began recording television on VHS tapes nonstop in 1979 during the Iranian hostage crisis to make sure details would remain intact. She accumulated approximately 71,000 tapes that added up to over

800,000 hours of content. She and her family lived on a tight recording schedule, making sure that someone went home every six hours to switch one of the up to ten tapes recording at a time. Her collection also included thousands of newspapers and books. Learn more about her in the documentary below.


Thanks for reading How To Build Your Own Archive! I hope it's helpful to you.

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