Class Year
2019
Document Type
Blog Post
Publication Date
Summer 8-25-2017
Department 1
Civil War Institute
Abstract
Gettysburg College Special Collections is a place where the worlds of archiving, preservation, and interpretation intersect. In the climate-controlled stacks, shelves lined with volume after volume attest to the centuries of history that the college has witnessed. It is the role of the current staff and interns to disseminate the seemingly infinite artifacts, manuscripts, and other primary sources that come through the door to those who travel to Special Collections to learn, discover, and enrich themselves. As Freeman Tilden wrote, “Information, as such, is not interpretation. Interpretation is revelation based upon information”. However, interpretation is not something that should be rigidly defined and passed from person to person without question. In places such as Special Collections, we seek to provoke interactions between the sources and those using them; we hope to facilitate an environment where such interpretations can be made.
Copyright Note
This is the author's version of the work. This publication appears in Gettysburg College's institutional repository by permission for the copyright owner for personal use, not for redistribution.
Recommended Citation
Parrella, Chloe, "Provocation through Accessibility at Special Collections at Musselman Library" (2017). The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History. 214.
https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/compiler/214
Comments
This blog post originally appeared in The Gettysburg Compiler and was created by students at Gettysburg College.