Watching What I Eat

I have avoided examining the College archives because we have been consumed with creating the structure of the book and finding contributors (I'll write on this process later). Once that was well in hand, the next step was to see what might be available in the archives.

Ours are located in the bowels of the library in three small rooms, a neaby hallway and a more distant stacks area. The folks there are helpful and know where things are in the three spaces they use. How documents, media and objects are organized, of course, makes them more or less easy to find. Because we have had a series of archivists over the years -- each with a slightly different procedure and system for organizing material -- makes it somewhat difficult to place new material coming into the archive.

The Board of Trustee's minutes, thank goodness, are arranged by year and we have a full run from before the college was built to the present. They are invaluable because they record the official policies and decisions of the college. A history of the college, however, can't simply chart those policies and decisions. Such a history needs to contain much, much more.

The question, however, is what sort of documents should be "much more"?

I thought long about where I should start. Should I start with the College Bulletin where Programs and courses are listed? Should I start with the Board of Trustee's minutes? How about starting with the files of the three Presidents we have had since the beginning? Should I examine our Union papers or Divisional documents? What about photographs and media?

All of these eventually have to be perused; for the first time, however, I decided to read through the earliest volumes of our College student paper -- the ARGO. We have a complete run beginning in 1971 when we opened in the Mayflower Hotel in Atlantic City.

Looking at the paper was like stepping into Hippydom. "Fros" were everywhere as were moustaches, peace symbols, beads, bell-bottoms and American flags in every conceivable shape and form. One of the first issues in 1972 offers a young woman, tied to a chair with a sign around her neck and an American flag bandana silencing her speech. Having lived through the 60s and 70s and having been involved in many Washington marches, sit-ins, teach-ins and other forms of protest, it was old territory though I hadn't visited that place since those days.

I realized quickly that what I didn't need was a memory trip; I had to focus on the problem of choice. Which of the articles, interviews and editorials -- if any -- were right for telling the history. I was reminded of Johah Lehrer's How We Decide; we can become paralyzed with too many choices.

Choice is the fundamental, driving engine of this text and because we haven't yet been presented with contributions (they arrive in June) we have had few choices to make. Reading the ARGO confronted me with a vast array of choices and I found after two hours, I was happy to leave. The archives are somewhat like a large box of assorted chocolates. Each needs to be nibbled to see what they are but quickly a cloying develops that sends us far away from the box.

I have really got to watch what I eat.