Documenting a shady past...

I've been following this story in the news since February. The Hungarian government is in the process of creating legislation that will allow for the destruction of archival records relating to its Communist history. Along with other documents, anyone who was spied upon by the Hungarian secret police would have the right to dispose of the records in which they are named. The Hungarian government sees the act as a way to remove Hungary's association with Communism, stating that these are 'immoral documents of an immoral regime'.

If the piece of legislation becomes law, the Hungarian archives could possibly lose 12 miles of archival documents that cover a period from 1948-1990. I don't think that the Hungarian government is directly trying to cover up its less than perfect past. I get the impression, rather, that they are trying to separate themselves from Communism and the grip it had on the war-torn country. By giving its citizens the right to destroy records containing their personal information, they are allowing the people to take control of their past. If Hungary really wanted to destroy its records and break from its Communist past, they could easily and secretly dispose of the documents in question.

That being said, however, I hope that the Hungarian government rethinks this legislation. The archival records document a period in Hungary's history that was turbulent but not dissimilar to many European countries behind the Iron Curtain. I think the Hungarian Archives needs to be the guardian of this information so the tumultuous period can be remembered and considered and so that Hungarians, and other Communist-turned-democratic countries, can truly understand how far they have come.

If you're interested in learning more about this, check out this website created by Canadian, Christopher Adam.

LAC uncovers document more precious than gold!

I'm glad the Olympics are over. I was sick of hearing about how poorly Canadian athletes were fairing and I was/am sick of hearing how the Canadian government should give more money to sports and Olympic aspiring athletes.

Don't get me wrong, I like sports and I like the way Canadians rally behind our athletes during the Olympics. The games definitely inspire a sense of togetherness and Canadiana. But I'm not so sure that athletes, people who eat, sleep, train, and breathe their respective sports, deserve more money than other culturally inspiring or important jobs or activities. I would venture to say that waste collectors, city gardeners, librarians, and clinics are more deserving of funding than athletes.

Just before the Olympics occupied every waking moment of CBC's news coverage, Library and Archives Canada was briefly in the news too (really briefly, the story won't take you more than 20 seconds to read). Sometime last year, a LAC employee, who has unnecessarily remained anonymous, accidentally discovered an Australian playbill among Canadian documents. The playbill, possibly the earliest printed document in Australia, dates to 1796 and has been an important item in strengthening the relationship between LAC and the National Archives of Australia.

The lack of coverage this story received is really unfortunate. The story was passed over by the Canadian media in favour of Michael Phelps's eating routine, a report that is hardly worth your time.

While the playbill is ultimately Australian, it is interesting to follow the document's path to Canada where it was safely stored for almost 100 years. If nothing else, the LAC-NAA playbill situation serves to connect Canadian-Australian cultural relations and it should have received more coverage than it did. Archives and museums can encourage a sense of Canadiana and togetherness just as sports can, and probably even more so.

The Olympics come every two years, but archives are forever!