Novak – Question 3

¶ 1 Leave a comment on paragraph 1 0 I believe there is a strong value in radical archives, as such collections and practices often have the ability to reach and engage with more diverse audiences than more traditional repositories, which may often be restrained by institutional policies or standards that can limit outreach potential. Such “radical archives” projects can include more interactive digital projects, community collaborations, or public programming and outreach events. Radical efforts like these can be achieved through missions and goals that seek to represent and/or engage with audiences, and then establishing practices that best meet these goals. Such methods can often draw upon professional standards from the archival field, but should not necessarily be limited to such standards. For example, its mission states, “The Center for the Study of Political Graphics (CSPG) collects, documents, preserves, and exhibits posters relating to historic and contemporary movements for social change. Through traveling and online exhibitions, lectures, publications, and workshops, CSPG is reclaiming the power of art to educate and inspire action.” With this mission, CSPG clarifies that it collects materials that may be considered radical, as they are atypical for archives and manuscript collections. More importantly, this mission emphasizes the proactive efforts to educate the community about the collection resources. We utilize archival practices, such as description and digitization, to further this mission by increasing access and preserving materials for researchers as well as for our own programs. Then, within our existing practices, CSPG has continually looked to develop new methods to bring greater access to the materials, such as the “Exhibitions-to-Go” format described above.