Toiling in the Archives of Cyberspace

Toiling in the Archives of Cyberspace

Archives

In “Toiling in the Archives of Cyberspace,” Renée Sentilles argues, “Our relationship with sources changes as they become more accessible, more abundant, and less tangible" (136). Sentilles discusses the usability of digital archives, particularly the Internet, using her experience studying the life of Adah Isaacs Menken to point out the differences digital archives bring to history scholarship. First, she states the Internet creates an excess of information and sources, when historians are used to working with a scarcity of sources. Second, she discusses how the community on the Internet can replace the solitude of historical writing. Ultimately, Sentilles concludes that, while one can conduct parts of research on the Internet, the digital medium cannot replace the experience of being in the physical location with archive personnel.

Sentilles, Renée M.
Burton, Antoinette

Duke University Press

2005

Sara Raffel

Book

ISBN-13: 978-0822336884

Sentilles, Renée M. “Toiling in the Archives of Cyberspace.” In Archive Stories: Facts, Fictions, and the Writing of History, edited by Antoinette Burton, 136-56. Durham: Duke University Press, 2005.