Communicating archives. Reflections on the margins of some representation choices

Abstract

Promoting and presenting archives in a way that makes them a reassuring and easily accessible context is a primary concern for archivists, who are used to working in a field driven by communication. This paper offers a reflection on models and methods of transmitting and promoting documentary collections, while drawing inspiration from recent works that propose new perspectives on the question and its forms of presentation. Does a clear distinction between the established descriptive tradition and the so-called alternative approaches still make sense? Perhaps the two approaches are much more interconnected and stable than previously thought. Are research tools “healthy carriers” of narrative? It seems so. Alongside descriptive practices, the paper will compare some effective museum practices aimed at presenting archives and highlighting the specific cultural value that archives actively preserve. From a broader perspective, after a period of great success, narratives are now in crisis. To quote Byung-Chul Han, «At the core of this noisy storytelling lies a narrative void, manifesting itself as a lack of meaning and a loss of direction». Maybe archives can offer a different interpretative and descriptive key.