That's TMI: Time, Memory, and Interpretation

  Rory Engel Making Collective Memory About the Collective Seeing the cases that each group individually put together was my favorite part of this project because you could really see the different facets of Kenyon come together to create a cohesive understanding of the last hundred years here. In some ways, I think it helped to reinforce some of the choices that Liv, Julián, and I made in the Notable People case, but in other ways, it brought up critical points of what we could have done differently. For instance, after we finished presenting, the class had a productive conversation following Avery’s comment that our case solely revolved around white men. This was something we had conversations with during many of our meetings together in the Special Collections and Archives. While we wanted to feature more diversity, we felt a bit limited by both the boxes we were given as well as the culture of the school at the time we were looking at, which was predominantly white men. We also...

 This week was an exciting one because we finally got to see our classmate’s work in full fruition! It was fascinating to understand what parts of Kenyon’s history people chose to forefront of their exhibitions. It brought me back to my first blog post, where I talked about the shared collective identity of a Kenyon student, and how our archival work upheld that memory identity and collective narrative. Everyone found a personal connection to their exhibit because they saw themselves in Kenyon’s past– the entire student life display and the letters vowing not to smoke come to mind. In this final week, I found myself wondering about identity in a new way. Based on theories from “Muslims Are The New Blacks,” from Hajar Yazdiha’s The Struggle for the People’s King, I asked and explored the question: What, concretely, enforces a group’s identity?  Memory can broaden identity more than narrow it. This is the main claim from Yazdiha’s chapter, in which she outlines the progression o...

    Without knowing it, my group and I were tasked with restoring the presence of women in Kenyon's history. This came from the realization that this case was the first to focus solely on women at Kenyon, leading to their long-overdue recognition. Consequently, we brought people and events back into the light that may have been overlooked or forgotten when it comes to Kenyon's history. Hence, our case is heavily influenced by the early years of Kenyon's co-ed transformation. And this period in particular can be easily forgotten as the influence and success of women at the school today makes it seem as if it were always that way.     Just as my group had done with the creation of the case for women at Kenyon, Oprah did the same for Black women in the civil rights movement. By bringing up Recy Taylor's name and sacrifice at the Golden Globes, she shined a light on Black women that had long been shut off. Too often, it's men in the civil rights movement that are praise...

  Working with the archives has been different than I expected. This project was special to me because of low expectations going in. I am not good at staying optimistic about anything school related. I have been this way my whole life, and I don't like it. However, this project quickly brought me in and I truly liked participating. This week in the archives we got a taste of what everyone has been working on. I enjoyed listening to everyone talk about their work, and talking about my own work. My group finished up our project focused on the past 100 years of Kenyon and the next 200. The portion of the past we focused on was what especially stuck with me. I had never heard of so many things that we learned about, including the Old Kenyon fire. It is a staple of Kenyon history and I had never heard of it. My group was able to bring these memories to ourselves in a way; through restoration. The fire was a huge centerpiece of our display. We were able to acknowledge the tragedy and det...

This week, my group finished curating and presented our final display. Unlike past weeks, much of the work we did was outside of the archives; last weekend, we each wrote case summaries and call-out labels, and on Monday we presented everything to the class. Perhaps more than anything else, my group spent the majority of the past week thinking about our case summary. Although we had a general idea of what we wanted to say, I think we all found it fairly difficult to actually say (in a clear and succinct manner). Beyond our case summary, we also spent a fair amount of time thinking about our classmates’ presentations. Although our work is done, part of me wishes that we had more time to talk to/collaborate with the other groups, particularly since they did many things that I found surprising and clever (e.g., I thought “Student Life” had a great layout; Women at Kenyon also had a very thoughtful narrative). In terms of this week’s reading, one thing that I found interesting was Yazdih...

In the final curation and presentation of my display case, my group and I considered our power in the selection process. In choosing items to represent, we wanted the case to be a collection of objects that current students could identify with– we wanted Kenyon Students to feel a sense of belonging when they saw groups they were involved with. Student life at Kenyon is composed of a diverse range of organizations, such as acappella groups, sports teams, greek organizations, and affinity groups. As our final case only had ten items, the selection process was challenging as we couldn’t incorporate every organization on campus. To combat this, we ultimately included a range of pictures and articles, as our goal was to have students see themselves in the past 100 years at Kenyon, even if they don’t personally belong to the specific organizations that were displayed. Largely, our case can be extended to the entire community, as the objects chosen highlight many of the campus-wide events tha...

The presentations of each group’s project, and the depth of their research were interesting. Glimpsing into their selection process and getting an idea of what informed the final product. For example, the case on student life, allowed us to connect with the Kenyon students who came before us. They presented photos taken by students, as well as posters and objects we see as both recognizable and commonplace at our school today. In the hill case, we tried to collect items less for their individual story or significance but rather chose objects that supported the overall story of growth in the Kenyon community. In the case of other cases, for instance, Kenyon in the world, it was interesting to see the collection of notable figures, objects, and events, creating a full sense of the history.  The reading from this week was concerned with the use of Civil Rights memory toward different ends. The first chapter was concerned with the Islamophobic sentiments rising around America after 200...

      With everyone's cases being finished this week, our class bustled with excitement about completing this project. While setting up our case for the presentations, I looked around at the other groups and could see how proud everyone was of the work they had done. I am so grateful that we had the opportunity to hear each group present their cases, for I realized that I had been oblivious to the work that my classmates had been doing in their respective cases. It was fascinating to see the different directions that each group took with their displays - the irony, insightfulness, uniqueness, and creativity that I observed in the different displays truly encapsulated the spirit of Kenyon students, which is exactly what should be displayed for the bicentennial celebration. Furthermore, it was amazing to see the relationships and connections between different cases. While each case can definitely stand on its own, the combination of all of them created a sense of continuity...

  Our time in the archives reached a triumphant conclusion this week, culminating in a delightful presentation of the class's hard work. It was gratifying to see that all the time we and the other groups had put in over the last few weeks truly paid off; the presentations were both entertaining and thought-provoking. While listening to the other groups, I was surprised and impressed to glimpse the stories they had crafted in ways that had not even crossed my mind. In particular, I was very impressed with The Hill group’s presentation of the history of Kenyon fires and new construction. The group split their case in half, telling a story of destruction on one side, and on the other, a story of creation. Their visual way of telling a seemingly dull and somewhat painful story was incredibly effective, and I hope to see their case on display in the future. We also concluded our reading of Yazdiha’s The Struggle for the People's King, with two focused chapters on the Muslim and Wome...

This week, as our work in the archives came to a close, we went around the room and got to listen to other groups talk about the cases that they have curated. I loved getting to listen to everyone talk about the selections, thought processes, and themes that went into the final product. In my opinion, the best part of watching the presentations was seeing all of the objects come back to life. One of the beauties of putting the objects together in the cases is how they can all relate to each other and tell a story for the viewers. Since we all worked hard to find objects that told these stories, each case made me understand how these objects were once used and what they represented. Thinking specifically about our case, I think it was really gratifying to see how our selections created a full view of Kenyon in the world. Even though most things in our case are no longer around, the photos of them still felt alive, which was a really amazing feeling. This week in our reading of Yazdiha...

     This week marked the end of our time with the Kenyon Archives and Special Collections, concluding with presentations of our completed cases. It was so interesting to see my classmates’ completed displays, and their presentations helped to put my group’s case into perspective, broadening the lens through which we had been viewing Kenyon. There is so much more to Kenyon’s history over the last century than just student life, and it was fascinating to learn about the women at the college, notable people, and Kenyon’s larger impact in the world, for example. Each case constitutes a narrative about Kenyon, and taken together, illuminates our generations’ perception of our college’s past, influenced by the current times in which we live.       In our reading this week, The Struggle for the People’s King, Hajar Yazdiha alludes to three ways in which a group understands their identity. The first element of this framework exists on an institutional level, ...