Haywood Wish Book: A Proposal for Online Archiving and Community Building

Posted by William VanderVeen on December 9, 2021.

Haywood County, NC, is in no short supply of archives, at least not in the traditional sense of the word. That’s what I learned after speaking with Carol Litchfield, volunteer researcher and historian with the Haywood County Historical and Genealogical Society, who over the course of a 30 minute phone conversation filled my ears with all kinds of valuable resources on the topic. She told me that the archival efforts of Haywood County span everything from a community archiving event that took place in 2008 to celebrate Haywood County’s bicentennial (which yielded both online and print collections) to regional newspaper archives, statewide digitization efforts, a physical archive of Waynesville history curated by fellow local historian Alex McKay, and a digital library collection managed by Western Carolina University.

These archives abound with a variety of historical content including genealogical records, photographs of historic places and buildings, audio recordings of regional music, recorded interviews of old and new members of the community, local plants preserved in herbariums, scans of old yearbooks and newspapers out of print, and scans of maps whose terrains have long since changed. Of the collections I reviewed, the most striking was a visual travelogue titled “Travel Western North Carolina” hosted by Western Carolina University. A combination of the media mentioned above, it presents historical photography alongside historical text of the same time period organized as pins on a map. This combination painted a wonderfully holistic picture of the region, allowing me to immerse myself in the decades of the 1890s, 1910s, and 1930s.

As compelling as these archives were, it was while reviewing them that I realized that they all appeared to be primarily concerned with traditionally historic materials. Save for a few items, the majority of the entries on these websites appeared to be from the 20th century or earlier. The only collection I saw that was composed entirely of contemporary material (that is, having occurred since the beginning of the 21st century) was the oral history section of WCU’s LGBTQ Archive, which upon further inspection seemed to prioritize the LGBTQ issues of Jackson County, Haywood County’s neighbor.

Not only that, but most of the archives also had steep learning curves for browsing. I was eager to jump into the bicentennial collection, statewide DigitalNC collection, and parts of WCU’s digital collections, but often found myself unsure of where to start when confronted with their long lists of items. The preview thumbnails of these lists were often too small for me to decipher the significance of the items, especially when the thumbnails were of newspaper clippings or written letters. Once I’d selected an item from a list, I found it difficult to jump from that item to another item (in order to look at a new item, I would have to go back to the main list).* It was while viewing an item in the bicentennial collection that I thought, “wouldn’t it be cool if I could view items similar to this one, off to the side or something?” Alas, it could not be so. Some of the collections mentioned (including the bicentennial collection) are hosted by OCLC which makes any changes to the issues I mentioned difficult. OCLC management tools do not have the option of increasing the thumbnail size of images either in list view or grid view and there is no way to see related material when viewing a specific item.

*Please note that my survey of these archives was conducted before WCU and UNCA launched their Southern Appalachian Digital Collections website, which sports helpful categories, nice large-scale photographs, and easy navigation.

It is because of the lack of contemporary archival efforts in motion in Haywood County that I decided to create the Haywood Wish Book. An archive focused on preserving the history of today, the Haywood Wish Book is meant to give the residents of Haywood County a way to define the historical identity of today. By contributing photographs and text in response to the question “What do you wish the Haywood County of the future knew about the Haywood County of today?” my hope is that residents take stock of what matters to them and record it before the moment passes. That way, years from now when the community of the future is doing archival work, they have a reference point to build upon. In response to this future utility, local researcher and historian Alex McKay told me, “a website like that would make my job a hell of a lot easier.”

In addition to historical purposes, building an archive focused on what matters also serves as a way for the region to rally behind the values they choose to record. Considering the effects that a fluctuating population has on a community’s sense of identity along with the devastating effects of Tropical Storm Fred, a community-built repository made up of entries reflecting the values of Haywood County could help the region to process, heal, and regroup in the face of such disorienting events.

In creating the Haywood Wish Book, I wanted to address the interactive issues of the existing OCLC archives (mentioned above) while also being realistic about what I could accomplish within the confines of the fall 2021 semester. In an effort to do both, I found a Squarespace template that allowed for both viewing larger thumbnails and jumping between entries more easily. In addition, the Squarespace template I found also displays image descriptions in the main list of entries, giving the viewer a way to read about the entries without being forced to select one. The Squarespace template is not without its downsides: the focused state of an image does not display the image description, nor does the template allow for the ability to enter locations, tags, or other similar metadata. In lieu of actual metadata, location and tag information was entered as plain text into the image description section of each entry.

In naming the project, I was inclined to avoid the term “archive” because of its strong historical connotations. Using the term to describe the project would be fine, but I knew that if I used it in the title I would run the risk of prospective participants misunderstanding the project’s emphasis on contemporary issues, potentially discouraging their participation in general. My inclinations were reinforced when speaking with Carol about my idea for a “digital archive of today.” While on the phone with her, I found myself going to extra lengths to describe how the archive I wanted to build would be different from the resources she showed me. I began to realize during our conversation that the word “archive” carried allusions to historical materials, which would be a disadvantage in my case. The Lesbian Herstory Archives agrees with this premise, as stated on their website: “Most people think of ‘archives’ as a dreary, dusty and dark place filled with boxes of papers of interest only to a small group of academic researchers and writers. Erase that image from your mind!” Rosten Woo, designer behind the Takachizu project (which influenced the inception of the Haywood Wish Book) also agreed with me that the term is limiting: “I think the connotations you describe are probably why [the use of the term ‘archive’] didn't come up as an idea [for the title]…I agree in general the name ‘archive’ is not greatly appealing or interesting to people who don't have some sort of scholarly connection in their lives (and even then, can be alienating).”

It was for these reasons that I set out to find a new term. After brainstorming words I could use to describe a collection of “items of value,” I came across the Sears holiday mail order catalog known colloquially (and then later on officially) as the “wish book.” A catalog filled with gift ideas for children and adults alike, the Sears Wish Book gave families a way to participate in the joys of the holiday experience vicariously. A term used to identify items of value and an historical item itself, I thought the name “wish book” was perfect for what I was trying to create. Sprinkle in a little location-specific information to create an association with Haywood County and there you have it! The proposal for the Haywood Wish Book was born.

Other resources in the form of scholarly articles also contributed to the creation of the Haywood Wish Book, even if their influence didn’t manifest in overtly tangible ways. Most influential among these resources include the following excerpts:

“On July 23, MCNY unveiled the first phase of New York Responds, an outdoor installation featuring 14 images that were submitted as part of ongoing collecting efforts” (Eves 2021). Speaks to the importance of “seeding” items within an archive as a way to demonstrate the potential of the archive. Once viewers see what typical contributions look like they have a better idea of knowing how to contribute themselves, thus increasing their chance of contributing in general.

“…more than 18,000 posts were submitted using the hashtag #COVIDStoriesNYC and more than 5,000 using #ActivisitNY on Instagram” (Eves 2021). Speaks to the potential that social media has for crowdsourcing contributions.

“…a postcustodial model is appropriate for community archives…[because] it addresses the ambivalence that many communities feel towards depositing their archives in formal heritage institutions…” (Flinn 2007, 168). Speaks to the advantage of relying on photography rather than acquiring physical items: people can hang onto their personal stuff and document items that would be illegal to remove otherwise (see “Dale, Jr.” street sign entry).

“…museums are not just research, collection and preservation institutions, but, more importantly, educational institutions…To enhance representation, organization, and discoverability of cultural heritage expressions, such institutions as libraries, archives, and museums have been actively engaged in various crowdsourcing projects, defined by Howe (2006) as the act of taking work once performed within an institution and outsourcing it to the general public through an open call” (Hajibayova and Latham 2017, 506–7). Speaks to how crowdsourcing allows for more accurate and diverse representation within libraries’/archives’/museums’ body of work.

“Owens (2013) suggests that crowdsourcing projects not only facilitate accessibility of digital collections, but also empowers participants as authors of our historical records” (Hajibayova and Latham 2017, 507). Speaks to how crowdsourcing allows for more democratic preservation efforts.

“Extending preservation to the cloud offers community archives key advantages: the close connections that community archives maintain with their stakeholders, users, and donors means that they are ideally positioned to acquire the digital records of persons, businesses, and organizations that may escape the mandates and abilities of larger, institutionally based archives” (Hurley 2016, 131). Speaks to the advantage that crowdsourced archives have over institutional archival efforts: since crowdsourced archives maintain closer relationships to their communities, they have a better chance of soliciting higher quality contributions.

“‘Community’ does not have to be defined in terms of geography or ethnicity, though both of these sources of identity often motivate the creation of archives. Rather, community is a ‘frame of reference or orientation that coalesces around shared interests, common causes or collective experiences’” (Hurley 2016, 132). A helpful definition for considering what constitutes a “community.”

“Opportunities for tagging, sharing, and commenting on records may also match functionality in social media applications that are now commonplace…” (Hurley 2016, 145). Possible feature ideas for future iterations of the Haywood Wish Book.

“Since museums were forced to close, some institutions have taken to Twitter, which is an unusually rich space for museum discourse (curators are good at fitting a lot into a few words) to curate crowdsourced views of institutions and heritage sites…it is clear is that simply creating a website or hosting a social media presence which allows for a one dimensional transfer of knowledge from the institution to the audience is no longer considered a sufficient proxy for digital engagement” (Kahn 2020, 5). Speaks to the growing trend of crowdsourcing as a way to break museums out of the “one dimensional transfer of knowledge” that usually goes from library/archive/museum to audience. Crowdsourcing has made this one-way knowledge transfer a two-way street.

“Online or digital exhibitions, which replicate, extend and supplement physical collections are gradually becoming more commonplace…” (Kahn 2020, 6). Speaks to the importance of the Haywood Wish Book partnering with a physical institution to help establish itself within the community—something I’m still working on!

Scholarly Articles Cited:

Eves, Megan. 2021. “Crowdsourcing an Exhibition: Museum of the City of New York’s New York Responds.” Museum Association of New York. March 30, 2021. https://nysmuseums.org/MANYnews/10253549.

Flinn, Andrew. 2007. “Community Histories, Community Archives: Some Opportunities and Challenges.” Journal of the Society of Archivists 28, no. 2 (October).

Hajibayova, Lala, and Kiersten Latham. 2017. “Exploring Museum Crowdsourcing Projects Through Bourdieu’s Lens.” Knowledge Organization 44 (January). https://doi.org/10.5771/0943-7444-2017-7-506.

Hurley, Grant. 2016. “Community Archives, Community Clouds: Enabling Digital Preservation for Small Archives.” Archivaria, May, 129–50. https://archivaria.ca/index.php/archivaria/article/view/13561/14920.

Kahn, Rebecca. 2020. “The COVID-19 Is Prompting Many Museums to Reconsider How They Communicate Their Research to the Public.” Elephant in the Lab, April. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3751749.

This project was researched and written utilizing autoethnography. My first attempt at the style, I am open to feedback on it.