Archival Immersion

My first week working on the job as an Archivist at the Federation has been trial by fire. To be honest I was scared that I would have no discernible skills to bring to the table. Eight months of theoretical course work has left me more confused than anything else. I have been both wrong and right on that account, I have gained a basic understanding of archival concepts so I know exactly how impractical they are in the field.

The most valuable lesson I have learned this week is what exactly an archivist does. I know, eight months of graduate school coursework. However actually getting my hands on some files helped cement the process in my mind. And now without future ado- What does an archivist actually do? (on their first week)

Both Michael (another UBC Student working in Geneva) and I are are working on Relief Operation Project files. I close Asia because I wanted to work with information dealing with North Korea and Myanmar. I guess I have a not so secret obsession with military dictatorships. My supervisor agreed that the Asia files would be a great fit as they are entirely in English and their is enough work within them to bore occupy ten interns.

Through some sense of fate coupled with bad luck my first fond out of the gate in one of the largest. I have spent this entire week and will spend many many more working on the Relief Operation Project files of Vietnamese refuges who where forced into diaspora after the rise of the communist government after the end of the Vietnam war. All of these project files date between 1978 and 1983. I am attempting to start slow by focusing on the project files focusing on the two refugee camps in the Philippines. All I have to do is appraise and then arrange and describe. Easy peasy right?

If only. Appraisal of a file group entails me going over every scrap of paper in these eight thick folders and determining what might be of interest for future researchers. For example means looking all corresponding invoices and the master total to cut down on bulk however all of these files are over thirty years old and its never as easy as keeping the end totals and keeping the rest. Its a strange judgment call which I imagine can only be perfected with work experience.

Going through these project files can uncover the day to day intimacy of the field as well as the higher levels of the organization. I now present a dramatic interpretation of a conversation I discovered via Telex (more on that at a later time).

Norwegian Embassy- We here in Norway have heard of the plight of the Boat People and would like to offer one and a half tons of creamed lamb stew.
Federation- We reviewed the sample you sent and deemed the product uneatable for the Southeast Asian climate and population.
Norwegian Embassy- This is a quality product! We feed this to our school children! What will do with all the excess.
(Six months later)
Norwegian Embassy- Are you sure? We still have all of it....
(Six more months later)
Norwegian- We would love to offer you one ton....

Well you get the gist. Also some of the personal letters can be quite amusing as well.

Do you go through strangers medicine cabinets as parties? Well then archivist might just be the job for you!


While appraising the content of these files, I am also taking excessive notes. I have to learn and understand the scope of the organization through the information it left behind so I can organize it and then describe it on the database. This includes a couple page write up on the history of the event and the people involved. It's kinda like a short history paper, which is what got me hooked in the first place. Yeah.. I know, I need a different hobby.

After this you clean up, remove staples and re-box. GLAMOROUS.

I imagine I will be working with the papers of the refugee camps the majority of my internship. I'll be sure to share my extra interesting finds.

Here is a slice of an average file. It took me all week to do the whole process with eight files last week but as it was my first attempt at archiving, I'm sure I'll speed up my processing time.