Phosphorescence

by Julia Baird

Why do we even preserve archives — the stuffed boxes in our attics that tell our own stories, as well as those in distinguished libraries that preserve the documents of influential figures? And where is the line between hoarding and preservation? What it is crucial to understand is that to keep records is to insist on significance: by doing so, you place something on record, and assert that it is of note. You are saying that it is something people should remember, that they may want to find out about at some point. If it is marked down, they will be able to do that. Women have not historically kept records. They have quilted and stitched. They have scrapbooked, pasted in remnants, sewn fables, passed stories down through generations, while men have filed official documents. And through these documents, men have dictated the past and determined who we see as winners and losers. This is how power begets power.