Kimmie Meunier

05/06/18
ENGL 16
Literary Exploration 4
Lueck

For years literary scholars have been calling attention to archival research and practices
(Royster, Williams 1999; Enoch 2010; Smith 2016; Lueck 2017). Archival research has sparked
some interesting discourse surrounding memory, preservation, and identity. These conversations
have generated responses to the question: Is archival studies important? And if so, why? While
many scholars have in some way responded to these questions, whether directly or indirectly,
confusion might still remain surrounding whether or not archival research can be applicable for
everyone. Does archival research matter to me as an individual? As a writer? I will answer these
questions as I enter into the space of archival research, contending that yes,
¶ I contend that archival research does matter matters to me as an individual, especially as
a writer. Each essay contributes to the This conclusion emerges after studying four scholars’
contributions to the conversation of archival research. Thus, each author is informed by their
location and group of study Each scholar studies individuals, all of whom come from different
cultural context. This work fills the gaps in the overarching discourse surrounding archival
studies, providing new insight. Lueck’s piece continues the conversation surrounding genre in
archival studies. Her work in defining defines a “class book” as a hybrid genre of scrapbook,
journal, and yearbook. Her works helps her audience envision how archives mirror, as well as
construct a cultural and individually defined identity. The ways in which a high school girl
constructed her class book, spoke to her own perceptions of self, as well as her position within
her geographic and social context (Lueck 2016). Unlike Lueck, Royster and Williams take a
broader sweep at filling in some of the blanks of contributing to the scholarship of archival
research. They critique writing studies documents in the past, which have not accounted for
African Americans position an African American perspective. in writing studies relative to
dominant discourses, the history of exclusion and oppression which undoubtedly affects the
African American community in composition, and the lack of student-centered study. The lack
of African American student-centered studies in composition contributes to an equally lacking
representation of African Americans in archival studies. This is where Royster and Williams’
intervene, providing case studies of three different African American students of higher
education, recovering what the authors use as contributions to the field of writing studies
(Royster, et al. 1999).
In this essay, I wish to expand on previous scholarship surrounding the notion of
language, location, and community in the understanding of archives (Enoch 2010). In addition,
like Lueck and Royster and Williams, I wish to provide a student-centered evaluation of writing
and journaling habits of one student’s my own writing archive. To conclude, like previous
scholarship, I also wish to stress the importance of archival studies as it pertains to cultural
memory and the construction of identity (Smith 2016; Lueck 2017). This is all done through the
description of a hypo-theatrical, self-designed archive depicting my relationship with writing.
Intervention:
Commented [KM1]: I wonder what
When I was 5 years old, I told my mom that I wanted to be a writer. At that time, I had writing studies scholar, Joseph Williams
already written a series of books: The Huchifact Series. The books were comprised of folded would say about the content of these
printer paper, bound by staples, and filled with imagination. Were any of the words spelled books. Clearly, Williams interests lay in
correctly? Absolutely not. But hand-drawn images sat adjacent to the wild adventures I had writing assessment. He does not
penned. However, I was not a “writer.” When I was in 3rd grade I made a hybrid journal, game advocate for ignoring grammar
manual, and scrapbook with my best friend. Again, these books were constructed out of stapled
altogether, but rather judging an
pieces of printer paper. Except, at this time we knew how to work the computer. We printed
numerous colorful photos that we pasted throughout our works. We made guides on how to use assignment based on the comprehension
“Webkinz,” creating stories about the fictional characters that lived on the online platform. We and presentation of ideas. He also
then traded the books between each other, relishing in the creativity of one another. Yet, we still advocates for ignoring grammatical
were not writers. Instead, we still aspired to get “there.” “There” being a place we would mistakes that are commonly accepted by...
understand when we were older. And I did not consider myself a writer when I gave a speech at
my commencement. Still, as I labor over papers in my classes, I do not believe that I am a writer. Commented [KM2]: This label, “writer”
My personal journal entries--though filled with lengthy anecdotes and poems--do not constitute a points to an identity I craved, yet thought
“real” writer’s portfolio. Instead, in composing my archive, I’ve thought about how the writing I I did not deserve. This is reminiscent of
do have my writing has contributed to establishing who I am as a person, my position within my Sondra Perl’s vague classification of
community, and my view of the world. skilled versus unskilled writers. Perhaps I
Since all of the writing work that I have produced remains unpublished, it represents, in a was an “unskilled” writer at the time,
different manner, the scholarship attempting to exhume a historically silenced perspective in
current archival research (Royster and William 1999). In analyzing an archive which is given that I was a child with a elementary...
composed of works generated throughout the author’s life, one can have a better grasp on the Commented [KM3]: This provides
development of that person’s writing skills, but also the development of that person as an insight into my identity, as my family had
individual. Like the women in Lueck’s piece, the Huchifact Series and the Webkinz scrapbook the economic means to buy me Webkinz
manuals depict the person I was at the time of its creation, as well as what some girls in my
socio-economic class enjoyed in their childhood in the area. In this way, it contributes to an
and supply me with all the necessary
individual and communal identity. Scholarship involving historiographic archival research tools to assemble these books. My
(Enoch 2010) would provide a basis for beginning to understand the earliest pieces in the interest in Webkinz which lead to this
archive, and subsequently my identity as a writer. One must review the language (English, but imaginative creation also points to an ...
with miss-spellings and odd construction), geographic region (Somers, Connecticut), and the
community (The people in the town, my old friend’s, teachers, my parents, my childhood best Commented [KM4]: Perhaps this
friend Sarah), in order to see how the culture of my town, my family, and my peers informed my thought would be shared from the
identity today. women studied in Lueck’s piece. I wonder
My identity today continues to be shared I continue to express my identity today within if they, too, thought about how their
my academic and free-write essays. Writing for classes in which I am actively interested in the individual and communal identities were
course material, as opposed to classes whose assignments feel like impossible tasks, expose formed and revealed in the construction
some aspect of my individual and communal identity. In ENGL 151A, writing a Shakespeare
of their class books.
essay seemed like an epic journey of heroic endeavor--from the main stacks, to the
dungeonesque zone of the library basement. Perhaps one can tell that my term paper seemed Commented [KM5]: I see why I added
forced and labored over. In comparing a Shakespeare essay to an essay from a WGST class, one this citation. The statement I make
might see a different construction of self. No long do I claim to be Instead of claiming to be a reflects some previous scholarship,
scholar of Elizabethan and Jacobean English, in my Science, Sex, and the Body class, Instead I
especially that of Royster et al. 1999.
am a I was a woman writing about queer futurisms (Very fun!). Those essays are less work to
forget after the end of the class, but rather pieces that I print out and keep Rather than forgetting However, I was not making a claim about
about this work as soon as the class ends, I keep print out and keep these pieces for my own the scholarship, so this reference isn’t
exactly appropriate. I leave it in the ...
enjoyment. Having a wide range of work encompassing more than 15 years of my life will help
begging to map who I am as a person, and who I am as a person within my community.

Understanding
While compiling my archive, I kept asking myself: “Who would care, besides me, about
my archive?” I repeatedly said that I was not a “real writer.” However, as scholarship in
community memory shows (Smith 2016), as well as uncovering the silences and personal
anecdotes of people throughout history (Royster, et al. 1999; Lueck 2017), exploring niche or
marginalized communities tells us about the larger structures, which inform people's’ lives.
Making my books when I was younger says something about my socioeconomic status—I My
family could afford Webkinz and I had the tools at my make the books the abundance of printer
paper, pens and markers needed to assemble the books. These archives also depict my version of
fun growing up in a small town. The works I made letter show a development in thought and
interest. All of this contributes to an individual identity, which can also reveal key aspects of the
time, generation, and new communities of which I am a part. This is a key affordance of archival
research, as it provides insight into individual and communal constructions of identity, often
revealing information about a population, (Royster, et al. 1999; Enoch 2010; Smith 2016; Lueck
2017).

Work Cited
Enoch, Jessica. “Changing Research Methods, Changing History: A Reflection on Language,
Location, and Archive.” Composition Studies, 38.2 (2010): 47-73.
Lueck, Amy J. “‘Classbook Sense’: Genre and Girls’ School Yearbooks in the Early-Twentieth-
Century American High School.” College English, 79.4 (2017): 358-383.
Royster, Jacqueline Jones, Williams, Jean C. “ History in the Spaces Left: African American Presence
and Narratives of Composition Studies.” College Composition and Communication, 50.4
(1999): 563-584.
Smith, Kevin G. “Negotiating Community Literacy Practice: Public Memory Work and the Boston
Marathon Bombing Digital Archive.” Computers and Composition 40 (2016): 115-130.

Appendix 1: Description of the works which compose my archive

1. The first “books” I ever wrote.

 When I was younger, before I was reading on my own, I was writing stories. I would rush
home, flee up the stairs to the office, and, much to my mother’s chagrin, staple a hefty amount
of printer paper together--ready to start a new novel. These books were hand written and
contained characters, which were drawn on pages adjacent from the hilarious, phonetically
spelled text. These books eventually became a series, named after the main character in each
book, Huchifact. The books documented Huchifact’s adventures, much of which mirrored the
mundane life of kid who grew up in farm-country Connecticut, juxtaposed to the wondrous
things I had dreamed of doing. For example, one of the Huchifact books involved getting mud on
a new, white couch. This captured my anxieties provoked by my mother’s insistence on keeping
the house perfectly clean compared to the muddy farms down the street. However, while some of
Huchifact’s life mirrored the quotidienne happenings of the typical Somers, Connecticut
resident, he also embarked on some wild vacations. Huchifact and the 8th Wonder of the World,
involved a complicated journey of sight-seeing. However, refusing to do any research as a
second grader, I fabricated these wonders. The 8th wonder was something that Huchifact
discovered--his family. That’s sweet and wholesome for a 8 year old! I do not have the physical
books with me now, nor do I have many pictures of them. I would want them, however to be
included in my archive as a foundation for my early works as a young writer.

2.) The second object that should be added to the archive are the journals that I would
construct with my best friend (in years 3-5 in elementary school). We would construct huge
journals--again out of stapled pieces of printer-paper. We made guides on how to use
“Webkinz,” creating stories about the fictional characters that lived on the online platform. We
created board games within the journals, which blended genre--a mix between manual and
scrapbook. The books were incredibly colorful and included pictures that we would print off the
internet and paste throughout the works.

3.) In my writing archive I would also like to add my baccalaureate speech that I gave at
my high school commencement. At the time that I wrote it, I thought it was a perfected piece.
However, I realized that the revisions that the headmaster made to it kind of distorted what I
actually wanted to convey to the senior class. The essay was a little too existentialiste and
borderline nihilistic for the moment. The speech felt less authentic, but I was still proud of it at
the moment. Looking back however, the speech is a little embarrassing. The voice I used
throughout the piece was that of an older person reflecting on life, but I was just an 18 year old
high school graduate. That isn’t to say that in 18 years someone can’t garner a valuable
perspective, but I should have addressed some naivety and acknowledged that I was not the first
person to come up with the idea that life is “just a string of happenings.”

4.) I would like to include a writing piece in which I was not passionate about the subject.
I think this would lead to an interesting comparison to an essay in which the contents convey my
direct interests. For example, I would include the Shakespeare paper that I wrote winter quarter
of my junior year. I do not like Shakespeare, and unlike most writing endeavors, I struggled to
motivate myself to start the writing process. In papers where I have vested interest in the topic, I
am generally excited to start writing and sorting out my ideas. While I believe that my
Shakespeare essay is well written, it would be interesting to see if one can ascertain any
differences between an essay which took a lot of effort to write, and an essay which flowed more
smoothly from thoughts to paper.

5.) In conjunction with objet 4, I would like to add a piece written about a topic in which
I am fully interested. I wrote a final paper for an upper-division theory class in Feminist Literary
Theory and Criticism. The class was really difficult, but I was so proud of my work when I was
finished. The process of writing this paper, as opposed to the Shakespeare one, was extremely
fun. I enjoyed wrestling my thoughts down on paper and making connections with what we had
learned in class and current events. I wonder if the joy I had writing this paper would show in the
text itself, as opposed to the difficulties I had laboring over my Shakespeare work.

6.) Finally, I would include my journals. I have several journals stemming from senior
year in high school. I am so honest in the journals, and the style of writing differs drastically
from that of the scholarly work I produce today. The journals, unlike my academic writing,
would reveal more about who I am as a person. While my school work does this to some extent
(ie. the topics I choose to write about, what I decide to include/ exclude, etc.), my journals reveal
my perspective of self and the world around me. This would be interesting to analyze in an
archive in addition to my more formal writing. Additionally, notes, pictures, and little keepsakes
are stuffed between the pages, further adding to the story of my life. This multi-modal piece
would significantly add to my archive and provide a more well-rounded and humanized vision of
myself as a writer.