Theorising the Natural Archive
Abstract This article discusses the use of the 'natural archive' (for instance, ice cores, pollen samples, dendrochronology) to supplement historians' traditional, documentary sources. It first explores the way insights from the archival turn have forced historians to interrogate not...
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2022
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crliverpoolup:10.3197/096734019x15740974883852 2023-12-17T10:31:40+01:00 Theorising the Natural Archive Nowak, Zachary 2022 http://dx.doi.org/10.3197/096734019x15740974883852 https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/whp/eh/2022/00000028/00000001/art00008 en eng Liverpool University Press Environment and History volume 28, issue 1, page 105-127 ISSN 0967-3407 1752-7023 Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous) Environmental Science (miscellaneous) History Geography, Planning and Development journal-article 2022 crliverpoolup https://doi.org/10.3197/096734019x15740974883852 2023-11-17T15:05:14Z Abstract This article discusses the use of the 'natural archive' (for instance, ice cores, pollen samples, dendrochronology) to supplement historians' traditional, documentary sources. It first explores the way insights from the archival turn have forced historians to interrogate not only their sources' provenance, but also the sources of those sources: the origins of the archives themselves. This critical approach to archives - looking at archives as objects of analysis - can be applied to archives assembled from natural specimens as well. I examine two examples of natural archives (herbaria and ice core collections) and show that they have subjectivities and social mediation similar to archives that contain paper records. The archival processes of acquisition, appraisal, ordering, and description (as well as deaccessioning) are all mediated by cultural concepts. I examine both herbarium specimens and ice cores to see how their creation and assembly into archives results not in an objective reflection of natural phenomena but rather in subjective assemblages. I conclude by appealing to historians to draw on these sources in an era in which the distinction between human history and natural history is collapsing, but to treat the provenance of 'natural' sources just as critically as that of documentary ones. By broadening the sources they use and thinking archivally about all of them, historians can avoid reifying the distinction between the natural and human worlds and confront the challenges of writing history in the Anthropocene. Article in Journal/Newspaper ice core Liverpool University Press (via Crossref) Environment and History 28 1 105 127 |
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Liverpool University Press (via Crossref) |
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English |
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Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous) Environmental Science (miscellaneous) History Geography, Planning and Development |
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Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous) Environmental Science (miscellaneous) History Geography, Planning and Development Nowak, Zachary Theorising the Natural Archive |
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Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous) Environmental Science (miscellaneous) History Geography, Planning and Development |
description |
Abstract This article discusses the use of the 'natural archive' (for instance, ice cores, pollen samples, dendrochronology) to supplement historians' traditional, documentary sources. It first explores the way insights from the archival turn have forced historians to interrogate not only their sources' provenance, but also the sources of those sources: the origins of the archives themselves. This critical approach to archives - looking at archives as objects of analysis - can be applied to archives assembled from natural specimens as well. I examine two examples of natural archives (herbaria and ice core collections) and show that they have subjectivities and social mediation similar to archives that contain paper records. The archival processes of acquisition, appraisal, ordering, and description (as well as deaccessioning) are all mediated by cultural concepts. I examine both herbarium specimens and ice cores to see how their creation and assembly into archives results not in an objective reflection of natural phenomena but rather in subjective assemblages. I conclude by appealing to historians to draw on these sources in an era in which the distinction between human history and natural history is collapsing, but to treat the provenance of 'natural' sources just as critically as that of documentary ones. By broadening the sources they use and thinking archivally about all of them, historians can avoid reifying the distinction between the natural and human worlds and confront the challenges of writing history in the Anthropocene. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Nowak, Zachary |
author_facet |
Nowak, Zachary |
author_sort |
Nowak, Zachary |
title |
Theorising the Natural Archive |
title_short |
Theorising the Natural Archive |
title_full |
Theorising the Natural Archive |
title_fullStr |
Theorising the Natural Archive |
title_full_unstemmed |
Theorising the Natural Archive |
title_sort |
theorising the natural archive |
publisher |
Liverpool University Press |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.3197/096734019x15740974883852 https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/whp/eh/2022/00000028/00000001/art00008 |
genre |
ice core |
genre_facet |
ice core |
op_source |
Environment and History volume 28, issue 1, page 105-127 ISSN 0967-3407 1752-7023 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3197/096734019x15740974883852 |
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Environment and History |
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28 |
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1 |
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105 |
op_container_end_page |
127 |
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1785585038448918528 |