[Oe List ...] ICA - Archives Committee (our movement and our dispersed common memory)

[David Dunn]

On May 5, 2009, at 9:43 AM, Karen Sims wrote to the EI/ICA/OE archive  
committee:

> “Documents face six steps of evolution: (1) important, (2) filed,  
> (3) forgotten, (4) trash, (5) rediscovered (sometimes), (6)  
> treasured.”
> [a quotation from] Hugh Downs "Letter to a Great Grandson"



A. Karen's note and quote highlight two primary questions we face with  
respect to our Global Archive:

"What does it contain? and What is important?" — What in our common  
memory is intellectually useful with discernible consequence in  
today's world. I believe that an urgent preliminary task is to CAPTURE  
THE INSIGHTS OF THINKERS IN OUR NETWORK about the inventions, lessons,  
and practices that need to be preserved and interpreted for the 21st  
century. The people who can do this job are getting older.

The correspondence began today with his request for information on UR  
images suggest the interest and ability of our network to address  
these two important questions:

> Mark Dove
> Where can I find the background information about the six Urs.  I am  
> teaching a course on the Tasks for Church Leadership and in the  
> section on our World View I want to include the wisdom and symbols  
> of the six Urs.  Mark Dove
>
> Marge Philbrook
> Sure, I'll look in the Academy archives and then figure out to get  
> the stuff to you, fax or what.  Grace and Peace.
>
> Jaime Vergara
> Marge, would you include me in your background search response to  
> Mark? To the collegium, has anyone done anything with the Ur Images  
> since it was archived? Has any group fiddled with the Academy  
> construct?  Where are the University 13 broodings and designs kept?
>
> Bill Salmon
> Mark: I have notes and probably lecture charts on the Urs. If you  
> want me to dig these out for you, please let me know.
>
> Mark Dove
> Marge Philbrook is looking through the archives and will fax me what  
> she finds.  If nothing comes of that I will get back to you and ask  
> you to search your files.  Thanks so much for offering.  What a  
> scattered group of colleagues came into being through EI/ICA.  Grace  
> and peace, Mark

People are clearly interested in mining and repurposing our  
intellectual heritage and in sharing the content of their personal  
archives. I wonder if creating a catalog and commentary on these  
widely dispersed collections would generate interest in the care and  
feeding of the central archive in Chicago?


B. We see the best museums today putting up displays related to  
contemporary themes that frame and focus their historical collections.  
We might think of our archive as something like a private  
anthropological-social history museum in search of contemporary themes  
to frame our common memory. Don't we need to IDENTIFY SUBJECT-AREA  
CURATORS for the major arenas of our common memory—people whose broad  
context, specific knowledge, and familiarity with our network might  
allow them to engage colleagues in an interpretive project. What is  
important in our world? What can we contribute? What from our common  
memory offers insight?

-but on the other hand-


C. Archive is such a medieval image seen from the perspective of a Web  
2.0 world with nearly universal access and networked minds. We need to  
EXPLODE OUR IMAGES of where our common memory lives. Where are the  
visible projects, programs, organizations, systems, and practices that  
have been influenced by the presence of our movement. Tangible  
demonstrations ground the insights of our intellectual heritage. We  
need to document these demonstrations and factor them into  
conversations about our common memory and the Global Archive.

Cheers.

David

---
David Dunn
dmdunn1 at gmail.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://wedgeblade.net/pipermail/oe_wedgeblade.net/attachments/20090506/85faf330/attachment.html>