October 2-October 4

This week has been very satisfying. Continuing my work from last week I continued to make plenty of progress. With the arrival of my internship supervisor I filed away the one and only binder in the first box. After that was completed the entire first box was processed. However, I feel that I still need to go over that box. There is a file in it titled ‘miscellaneous’ and I would like to get rid of that folder and have everything in it placed in more organized specifically titled folders. Also, some of the folders in the first box are not too specific on dates and I want to try and fix that. The more specific the dates, the better I feel the quality of the finding aid will be. Processing the second box I’ve been applying the lessons I learned processing the first box. Sorting through the second box I’ve learned to better separate the different documents into similar groups and two place those groups of documents in more specifically titled folders. Another thing I’ve done is to put unique documents into their own, unique, folders instead of just filing them away in a ‘miscellaneous’ one. That way those documents would be easier for an archive browser to find he was searching them using a finding aid. When it comes to the making of a finding aid, I am very inexperienced but if it is anything like compiling metadata I am confident it is a skill I should be able to learn quickly.


In the past, I have discussed many different archives. These archives stored collections of ice, Pan Am corporate documents and digital records. The archives I’ve about this week had to do with a very relevant type of media, videogames. The first article, by Archaeogaming, defended the role of video games as an art form and of being worthy of preservation. Though many people believe otherwise, I see video games as an art form. They combine such different arts as music, visuals and storytelling into a single format which clearly makes them art in my view. Also, they were made by human beings and I think that single requirement alone makes it worthy of being considered art, not all the pieces might be quality but it’s art. Also, games have historical value because, like all media, they reflect the mood of the past developer’s and show how technology has developed over the years. Many people feel this way in academia as evidenced by the University of Michigan having a very large video games archive consisting of 7,000 titles. This archive can be accessed by anyone with an ID and students from a variety of backgrounds have used the archive to educate themselves. Most telling of the usefulness of a video games archive to history, an instructor from the UM history department brought his students over to show them how samurai have been portrayed have been depicted in games. This shows the students the history of how popular culture has viewed this Japanese warrior caste. As more time goes on, the more I believe video games archives will become more relevant. Like it or not, it is a digital age we live in and to dismiss video games as meaningless would be ignoring a major facet of social development.  

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