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Historians, archivists, and social activism: benefits and costs

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Abstract

This article explores how activism by historians and archivists relates to and affects their work and how their work affects their activism. The findings are based on a survey of 195 historians (including educators) and archivists who self-identified as “someone who takes part in activities that are intended to achieve social or political change, especially someone who is a member of an organization.” The respondents participate in a wide variety of causes. Typically, their activities as activists reflect their professional skills and concerns, with a large majority involved in collecting and preserving the records of activist organizations. The article examines the benefits and costs for employers of employee activism, concluding the benefits outweigh the costs. The article also examines how activism affects the relationship between employers and their activist employees. While many activists receive recognition and other benefits from their employers for their activism, a minority suffers negative consequences up to and including firing and a substantial number feel inhibited from activism by their employers. The article also explores the effects of activism for the different occupational groups, determining that they are relatively similar but with some differences.

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Notes

  1. More recently, this term has been used to describe documenting activist groups such as the “Occupy” movement. See http://activist-archivists.org/wp/ April 1, 2012. Accessed April 3, 2012.

  2. Among other listservs and blogs to which the survey was posted were as follows: H-1960s, H-Disability, H-Ethnic, H-Labor, H-Museum, H-Peace, H-Public, H-Water, H-Women, AAMG-L (Association of Academic Museums and Galleries), Prog Archs (Progressive Archivists), Blog the Feminist Librarian, conference.archimuse.com, Archivalia and Archives Leadership Institute.

  3. The educator occupation choices on the survey were “History professor” and “K-12 teacher.” These US terms refer to an individual who teaches history at a college or university level and a teacher of primary/secondary students, respectively.

  4. For a discussion of ethics guidelines of history-related professional organizations that could serve as models, see Yaco and Hardy (2011).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Patricia W. and J. Douglas Perry Library, Old Dominion University, 4427 Hampton Blvd, Norfolk, VA, 23529-0256, USA

    Sonia Yaco

  2. Salisbury University, 1101 Camden Avenue, Salisbury, MD, 21801, USA

    Beatriz Betancourt Hardy

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  1. Sonia Yaco
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  2. Beatriz Betancourt Hardy
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Correspondence to Sonia Yaco.

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Yaco, S., Hardy, B.B. Historians, archivists, and social activism: benefits and costs. Arch Sci 13, 253–272 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10502-012-9187-0

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