Archival Communities: Constructing the Past in the Early United States

Recently, scholars have begun to analyze anew the ways in which the historical archives on which they rely were constructed, finding that early archivists often preserved and thereby privileged only elite stories and perspectives. Derek O'Leary now widens the lens to argue that crucial components of America's archives emerged from within an Atlantic world of circulating scholars, evidence, practices, and ideas. As he shows, US archives--and the historical narratives spanned by the documents preserved within them--derived their inspiration, materials, and meaning from this international context. Although he does not contest that archival institutions at the local, state, and national level were the domain of privileged men, O'Leary's Atlantic World frame allows him to uncover a far broader community of people engaged with archives, including women who influenced archival collecting and public perceptions of the nation’s historical record.