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.

Camp X artifacts to a better home...

The Star and Oshawa This Week recently published an article detailing the fate of several Camp X artifacts belonging to the Robert Stuart Aeronautical Collection housed at the Oshawa Airport. It was a follow-up to an article written in March, when it was expected that the private collection would be sold to the highest bidder, likely someone in the US. As of this week, 15 artifacts, including a suitcase radio, some clothing, trench art, and a helmet, from the Second World War spy training school near the Whitby-Oshawa border, have been purchased by the Canadian War Museum.

I think the history of Camp X, and certainly the artifacts, will be better served at the War Museum in Ottawa than they ever were in Oshawa. Lynn Phillip Hodgson, author of many *interesting* books about Camp X wrote to Oshawa This Week saying that the collection belongs to Oshawa. He goes on to say that, 'Tens of thousands of GTA school children have visited the museum over the past 33 years and now must journey to Ottawa to do so.' I was a GTA student, in fact I attended school in Oshawa, in the 1990s and I never once saw these artifacts. Even as an adult and someone who is interested in history and local history, I didn't find the Camp X artifacts to be terribly accessible, although I have seen the collection.

I don't think that the artifacts belong to Oshawa. Camp X and its history belong to all Canadians. In Ottawa, some of the artifacts will be publicly displayed and enjoyed by all Canadians and tourists and Oshawa's role in the Second World War will be featured. Similarly, the objects will receive proper care and storage at the Canadian War Museum. Isn't that better than the objects languishing in an old building that nobody knows about?

Mulling it over...

With Christmas exactly one month away, I've been feeling the holiday spirit at little more lately. One thing that I really like about Christmas is how so many of its traditions are brought forward and celebrated in modern homes. For example, it is thought that the idea of the Christmas Tree originated in Germany, where families decorated a tree to symbolize redemption and salvation. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, both with familial ties to Germany (Albert was German), first had a tree in Windsor Palace in 1841 and decorated it with fruit, tinsel, candles, and ornaments. In Canada, the first recorded presence of a Christmas Tree was in 1781 at a party held for British and German well-to-dos at Sorel, Quebec.

Another interesting Christmas tradition involves food! Much of what we eat during the holiday season dates to Medieval and Victorian Britain, including mincemeat pies, puddings, and mulled beverages, or Wassail. According to Wikipedia (!), wassail is actually ale mulled with sugar, nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and topped with bread, however, through the years the ale has been replaced with wine or fruit juice. Germany, Poland, Romania and a host of other eastern European nations call mulled wine Gluhwein and the Nordic countries, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Iceland call it Glogg.

I recently purchased Epicure's Mulling Spices and tried it the other night with fresh, unpasteurized apple cider from Archibald Orchards (100 mile diet qualifier!).Almost instantly, the house filled with the fragrant aroma of the past (and cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon). It was delicious!

Week 10, Thing 22: Discovering New Podcasts

I only recently got into podcasts but I really like them. Before this exercise I really only downloaded CBC podcasts from iTunes. I especially like Vinyl Cafe, CBC Radio 3 podcasts, and the classic Quirks and Quarks. I didn't even know that there were other podcast directories.

But there ARE! I looked at two, Odeo and PodcastAlley. I liked PodcastAlley better because of the layout and I think it has a better search engine. I also liked the fact that, after searching for a term, it generated a list of relevant podcasts that you can click on and see brief description about the podcast.

I found some pretty neat library podcasts. My favourite being the Library Survival Guide produced by Woodruff Library at Emory University. It offers listeners tips and shortcuts for library research. The 4 December edition was about the top ten most fun/unusual things to do in a library.

Then I searched for history related podcasts and found one that I subscribed to. It's called History Podcast (creative, I know) and recent podcats have been about everything from Vikings to the history of the internet. I'm looking forward to the one about Henry VIII and his crazy wives (or was he the crazy one?).

Anyway, another good task in the 25 Things exercise. Podcasts are just another way to get the word out about any subject at all. I like the way libraries and museums are making use of this technology.