Archives need neutrality
I agree with eminent historian Dr Shirley Fitzgerald that the proposal to merge the State Archives with Sydney Living Museums is nothing short of ‘‘nuts’’. It is no accident that over centuries State Archives has been respected for its incorruptible authority and political neutrality.
It is essential State Archives remains autonomous and free from commercial and political considerations serving the interests only of historical research and the endless quest among disinterested parties for the truth. The core purpose of archives is to accumulate and assemble records of the past. The experts all say the merger is not right. Shouldn’t we listen to them?
Jill Wran, Woollahra
Over two decades, there has been a blurring of the obvious distinction between cultural institutions, such as museums, and government archives. It has crept in at the national level and across each of our state and territory archives. These archives are government agencies with the most fundamental democratic role of making government responsible and accountable.
In a democracy, government archives are as different from museums and galleries as parliaments are from book clubs. Their sole purpose is to manage government records for the purpose of accountability, including providing public access in perpetuity. The only rationale for turning records into curiosities is to make accountability an antiquity and democracy long dead.
Lenore Coltheart, Malua Bay
Given its special expertise in conserving the physical remains of the past and bringing them to new audiences, whether collections, archives, buildings or places, this new move makes perfect sense.
But there is another reason why this matters. Our State Archives document politicians, our public service and our judicial and other public institutions. They are not just a source of history; they are vital to our transparency and accountability. To have the State Archives symbolically back on Macquarie Street, in the hands of an organisation with a strong ethical commitment to conservation and widening public access, as well as to telling untold stories, is a brave and important decision.
Kate Clark, former director, Historic
Houses Trust of NSW
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