Conservatism, the Right Wing, and the Far Right: A Guide to Archives. Archie Henderson

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СКАЧАТЬ target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="#ulink_66962365-7f77-5ef2-abcc-be5d0b5d5645">48 In the mid-1990s the University of California, Davis Library developed a streamlined method for cataloging pamphlets; as a consequence, the Library resumed collecting in the area of radical politics after a hiatus of nearly thirty years.49 In recent years there has been a growing respect for the value of printed ephemera in scholarly research.50 The attitude of disinterest no longer prevails, as is amply demonstrated by this guide. There are numerous collections of alternative, radical, and underground materials with right-wing documents. The abundance of primary source materials, however, has not been matched by scholarly attention. Social movements at odds with scholars' own political commitments are frequently neglected. Perhaps owing in part to their own antipathy toward conservatism and hostility toward the consolidation of various parts of the right in recent decades, "researchers overwhelmingly choose to study 'attractive' movements with which they sympathize."51

An example of archival research is the use of back runs of right-wing periodicals. As a way of studying marginal and alternative movements, "[s]erials are an important source of primary information about social movements, no matter what spot on the political spectrum they appear."52 Chip Berlet has noted, however, that "Insufficient scholarly attention has been devoted to alternative or 'oppositional' serials from the political right, even though a number of scholars have used these materials as primary sources for studies in several academic disciplines."53 Berlet cites the scholars who have used right wing periodicals as primary sources.54 However, the number of scholars cited by Berlet as having made use of serials from the political right is quite limited. Berlet quotes librarian James P. Danky, who writes, "Scholarly attention to America's ideological conservatives, even reactionaries, to say nothing of racists and homegrown fascists, has been scant."55 In the same vein, Christine G. Thomas writes, "A recent dissertation on 'The alternative Russian periodical press and its role in the formation of a multi-party system in Russia (1987-1996)', in reviewing the previous literature on this topic, points out how very little the publications of the alternative press have been used by Russian researchers, and states that over half the titles cited in the dissertation have never been cited in any academic work. The same neglect of these valuable sources holds true for the UK."56

       Right wing periodicals are only one part of the panoply of documentary material on the right wing that is available in publicly accessible libraries and archives. Other sources of information are collections of personal and institutional papers, film and audio/video collections, etc. While no research has indicated the extent to which archives of papers and other materials (as opposed to periodicals) have been used as sources, it is likely that, as in the case of serials, the other kinds of material available in the archives have been underutilized.

Academic research is not the only kind of research for which a guide of this sort may be helpful. The book will be of use to visitors to such archives as the Political Research Associates Library, which draws "community activists researching hate crimes; labor activists investigating anti-union campaigns; students looking into anti-democratic movements and trends; researchers and writers needing to fact-check and strengthen their work; and legal professionals preparing for civil rights and civil liberties cases."57

       For the most part, the entries in this guide follow, often verbatim, the online descriptions of archival collections, which sometimes are quite detailed but which are often not as complete as printed guides to individual collections, in-house finding aids, or container lists which must be consulted in person in the archives. I have supplemented, where possible, the online information with information from printed guides, online encyclopedias, other secondary literature which describes some collections, and my own research. The pertinent highlights of each listed collection are described in sufficient detail to enable the researcher to decide if the collection warrants further investigation or a personal visit. This is not to say, however, that the descriptions of each archive account for all available material on the subject held by that archive.

       For each archive, the guide includes a summary description of each archive, short descriptions of the relevant contents or highlights of the collection, the physical address of the repository or contact information, and links to the online finding aids or online descriptions where more information may be obtained. The general format of the entries is as follows:

       Location: This lists the name and address of the repository. In cases where the owner and the holder of the collection are two different entities, both are listed.

      Description: Many of the descriptions are based on the descriptions made available online but edited for space. Digital exhibits are usually listed under the description of the collection in the institutional repository, but if it is an online exhibit pooling the resources of various institutions, it gets an entry of its own.

       Reference: Under this heading, citations are given to books, articles, or blog posts which describe or mention the collection or discuss the principal subject of the collection.

       “Websites with information” means any websites other than finding aids for the particular collection which have some information bearing on the collection. Very often these are a-to-z lists of all finding aids (online and sometimes offline as well) for the library or repository. These lists are worth checking from time to time to see if additional finding aids related to a subject of interest have been uploaded or if existing ones have been updated.

       Finding aids: The url's (web links) for the collection are given here. These change frequently. If a link is dead, it is always worth trying the Wayback Machine (https://archive.org/web/web.php). Some collections have a finding aid provided by the repository as well as a finding aid to the microfilm edition of the collection. In cases where these finding aids differ significantly, each finding aid is given a separate entry. A number of libraries or consortia make finding aids available in both html and pdf formats. I have noted more than one version of a finding aid where found.

      References to persons, organizations, and subjects in the archival descriptions are compiled in a cumulative index at the end of the guide.

       Helpful open-access web resources for locating archival collections have included the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC) (search form at http://www.loc.gov/coll/nucmc/oclcsearch.html), National Register of Archives (NRA) (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/nra/default.asp), A2A (http://www.nat

      ionalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/), UK Archives Hub (http://archiveshub.ac.uk), Il Sistema Informativo Unificato per le Soprintendenze Archivistiche (SIUSA) (http://siusa.archivi.beniculturali.it/cgi-bin/pagina.pl), SAN (Sistema Archivistico Nazionale) (http://www.san.beniculturali.it/web/san/home), Il Censimento delle fonti per la storia della Repubblica Sociale Italiana (http://www.fondazioneisec.it/rsi/), Archivi del Novecento (http://catalogo.archividelnovecento.it/ISRT.htm), ArchiveGrid (http://beta.worldcat.org/archivegrid/), WorldCat (http://ww

      w.worldcat.org), OAIster (http://oaister.worldcat.org), the Social Networks and Archival Context (http://socialarchive.iath.virginia.edu/xtf/search), catalogue des archives et manuscrits Calames (http://www.calames.a

      bes.fr/pub/), CCFr: Catalogue Collectif de France (http://ccfr.bnf.fr/portailccfr/jsp/public/index.jsp), and Archives Portal Europe (http://www.archivesportaleurope.net/web/guest). See also Archival Search Engines, https://web.archive.org/web/20110309092414/http://www.tulane.edu/~lmiller/ArchivesResources.html. A list by Ernie Lazar was СКАЧАТЬ