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Polar Heroics and The Ideal Personal Archive

Eires, Edith LU (2024) ABMM34 20241
Division of ALM, Digital Cultures and Publishing Studies
Abstract
Personal archives have long been side-lined in the field of archival studies. What studies exist often struggle to define what a personal archive is. The aim of this master’s thesis is to further the understanding of personal archives, by investigating what the term personal means in the archival context. By applying Weber’s ideal type method, and constructing an ideal type based on the special characteristics of personal archives described by Grass, the idea of the personal archive is defined. The constructed ideal type is then compared to the real personal archives of four polar explorers in late nineteenth and early twentieth century Sweden – Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld, Alfred Nathorst, Salomon August Andrée and Otto Nordenskjöld. The... (More)
Personal archives have long been side-lined in the field of archival studies. What studies exist often struggle to define what a personal archive is. The aim of this master’s thesis is to further the understanding of personal archives, by investigating what the term personal means in the archival context. By applying Weber’s ideal type method, and constructing an ideal type based on the special characteristics of personal archives described by Grass, the idea of the personal archive is defined. The constructed ideal type is then compared to the real personal archives of four polar explorers in late nineteenth and early twentieth century Sweden – Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld, Alfred Nathorst, Salomon August Andrée and Otto Nordenskjöld. The results of this comparison are analysed by application of Derrida’s theoretical concepts of archive fever and hauntology. The study shows that the idea of personal archives in many ways reflect reality. However, the transient definition of the term personal has likely contributed to the difficulty in defining personal archives, as it is culturally contingent. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Eires, Edith LU
supervisor
organization
alternative title
Polarhjälten och det ideala personarkivet
course
ABMM34 20241
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Archival studies, Cultural studies, Personal archives, Personal papers, Polar history, History of Science, Ideal type, Hauntology
language
English
id
9155409
date added to LUP
2024-06-19 11:12:51
date last changed
2024-06-19 11:12:51
@misc{9155409,
  abstract     = {{Personal archives have long been side-lined in the field of archival studies. What studies exist often struggle to define what a personal archive is. The aim of this master’s thesis is to further the understanding of personal archives, by investigating what the term personal means in the archival context. By applying Weber’s ideal type method, and constructing an ideal type based on the special characteristics of personal archives described by Grass, the idea of the personal archive is defined. The constructed ideal type is then compared to the real personal archives of four polar explorers in late nineteenth and early twentieth century Sweden – Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld, Alfred Nathorst, Salomon August Andrée and Otto Nordenskjöld. The results of this comparison are analysed by application of Derrida’s theoretical concepts of archive fever and hauntology. The study shows that the idea of personal archives in many ways reflect reality. However, the transient definition of the term personal has likely contributed to the difficulty in defining personal archives, as it is culturally contingent.}},
  author       = {{Eires, Edith}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Polar Heroics and The Ideal Personal Archive}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}