Writing about my work with Belén’s archive has had me reminiscing on why I became an archivist. Growing up, I had a knack for collecting- ticket stubs, playbills, posters, etc. I loved holding onto what otherwise was ephemera, as it became a physical reminder of a memory or experience. My biggest collection, and my most personal, is my postcard wall. Since college, I’ve created a collage of postcards, museum guides, and other small trinkets that I put on one side of my bedroom wall. What started as a fun hobby with the postcards I got from museum gift shops slowly evolved into almost an installation piece of my personality.
When I first got into Museum Studies, I was more interested in curation, hence why I tried to perfectly present my postcard wall. While curation is still an area of interest, it was understanding the history and the significance of materiality that an archive can possess that first got my interest in the process. This came to a head during Grad School where I was first exposed to artist focused archives, specifically working with the David Wojnarowicz Papers at Fales Library and the Keith Haring foundation. Having a deeper understanding of my favorite artists through their personal collection showed me the importance and significance of archival research. Through my prior love of collecting and organizing, as well as the new exposure of artist focused archives, I knew that helping others see the same benefits of archives was in my future.
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