Integrity is a
term I have come across very frequently in my internship. It is not only integrity as it applies to
people and their ethics, but also the integrity of objects. Recently there was a problem with the
collection vault. This is the area where
all of the archival materials- papers to reel to reel discs- are kept. I am not a stranger to the incessant beeping
of a humidity alarm. It happened a few
times during my time at the NLM.
However, in those cases it was usually a false alarm. When the alarm went off in my current
workplace, however, it was no accident.
The room had become too warm for the documents and the alarm wanted
everyone to know that they were in danger.
One
of the most important things about objects, whether they are paper, clay,
metal, or film, is that they are preserved correctly in order to maintain the originality
of the object. One can imagine the
Declaration of Independence being subjected to a Florida hurricane with no
proper protection and get the general idea of the gravity and ramifications of
this situation. In order to keep the
life of the objects long into future generations, every variable has to be
considered. In times where space for
storage is expensive and historical materials are being shifted from one
institution to another, it is even more of an issue.
I
believe Moses Asch started Folkways with the idea of integrity in the back of
his mind. Not only did he wish to record
the world’s sounds, but he wanted them to always be available. The importance of all the different Folkways
records is the history that they perpetuate.
Sounds of Native Indians, tribes, and American culture may fall short of
oral history, but they are the sounds of history. In his own way, Moses Asch was protecting the
integrity of a number of cultures by requiring these recording to stay in
print. He wanted to provide an honest
perception of these people and the music Folkways produced. At times he was even hesitant to record with
more than one microphone.
Integrity
is more than just something you can keep in your toolbox of character
traits. It extends further than people;
it can describe objects, sounds, animals, and a number of other things. In order to make his encyclopedia of sound,
Moses Asch had to realize that all of these sounds, songs, and speeches
deserved the same respect as the people who created them.
No comments:
Post a Comment