Acres
When I talk to people about archives and their potential, I highlight the surprising expansiveness well beyond the bounds of the caricature of archives as always old and always institutional.
If you’ve been a reader for more than a few months, you have plenty of other definitions now in your head, but I appreciate the Wellcome Collection’s take: physical or digital, ranging from a single box to a warehouse full.
I love thinking about the shoebox archive, so many stashed under beds or in attics around the world. But we’re going big this month, with a gigantic effort by two nonprofit investigative news organizations that partnered with a magazine and connected with a massive batch of records from the National Archives.
“40 Acres and a Lie” encompasses multiple articles, a searchable database, and several podcast episodes all released this month. What’s most illuminating, and the place I started (rec: you too!), is a separate piece that details how these organizations researched and reported this series.
Whether you save this series for a stormy day or scroll through on a sunny, blanket-bound afternoon in the park, you’ll want multiple visits. It’s one of the more ambitious and well-documented uses of archives I’ve seen in a while.
I’m spending as much time as possible these days at my summer home a.k.a. the neighborhood public pool — reading, people-watching, swimming. And wishing you a season of open fields, slithering streams, and vaulted trees.
This newsletter was written on the traditional lands of the Piscataway and Nacotchtank.