"Heritage" Revisited: Documents as Artifacts in the Context of Museums and Material Culture
Abstract
The role of documents as artifacts places them in a relationship with museums and material culture; their display as evidence can have a powerful impact on society. The article points out that archives also abound with signs in the semiotic sense. The popular view of heritage is clearly bound up with the impact of these signs. Archives should not imply that they have a monopoly on "the collective memory," which spans all surviving evidence from the past. An increasing sense of place and the concept of bioregional heritage will require means by which archives can make available locally information that exists elsewhere. The way in which popular "heritage" can both preserve and create myths about the past is also explored. The article suggests that the relationship between museums and archives deserves to be examined more fully in an age that is fast becoming dependent on the image, icon, and virtual reality--where archives will increasingly play a part.
RÉSUMÉ
Concevoir des documents comme des artefacts les met en relation avec les musées et la culture matérielle. Les offrir en montre comme preuve peut avoir un puissant impact sur la société. Le présent article démontre que les archives regorgent également de signes sémiologiques. La conception populaire du patrimoine est nettement identifiée à l'impact de ces signes. Les institutions archivistiques ne peuvent prétendre au monopole de la "mémoire collective" laquelle embrasse tous les témoignages qui ont survécu du passé. Un sens de plus en plus aigu de "l'endroit" et le concept de patrimoine biorégional vont nécessiter de nouveaux moyens par lesquels les institutions d'archives rendront accessibles une information locale disponible ailleurs. La manière dont le patrimoine populaire peut à la fois entretenir et créer des mythes à propos du passé est aussi envisagé. Le présent article suggère que les relations entre les musées et les institutions archivistiques méritent d'être examinées de manière plus complète en cet âge qui est rapidement en train de devenir dépendant de l'image, de l'icône, et de la réalité virtuelle où les archives joueront un rôle de plus en plus grand.
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