Falling in Love with Documents
At various points over the past decade or so, I've come across people who write about the seduction of documents. It's something I've noted in passing and found mildly engaging, but it has only been recently that I started to understand the ways in which we might speak of an 'archive fever.'
My first reaction to receiving my documents at the Başbakanlık Arşivi (or Prime Minister's Archive, where most of the documents pertaining to the Ottoman state are stored) was shock: "You mean they're actually giving these to me?" I thought. They're almost all written on thick, heavy cotton paper. They smell. Their edges feel not so much rough as warm, the way whittled wood feels in the palm. If we were to compare between different histories on the basis of their weight, the Ottoman past has a kind of presence that our digital present lacks.
But what struck me most about the documents was how beautiful some of them were.* It's been a few weeks since I last worked at the archives, but I'm looking forward to going back. Even in the moments where it's most difficult to work with Ottoman, there's a certain consolation in merely being able to pick up the documents and wonder at the pen-strokes of what's past.
[*And there's another issue to raise here: How I've chosen to photograph. The oblique, shallow depth-of-field might make for a more pleasing photograph, but it also helps to empty the document of much of its actual administrative content. From municipal to figural?]
My first reaction to receiving my documents at the Başbakanlık Arşivi (or Prime Minister's Archive, where most of the documents pertaining to the Ottoman state are stored) was shock: "You mean they're actually giving these to me?" I thought. They're almost all written on thick, heavy cotton paper. They smell. Their edges feel not so much rough as warm, the way whittled wood feels in the palm. If we were to compare between different histories on the basis of their weight, the Ottoman past has a kind of presence that our digital present lacks.
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| Detail, Şehremaneti Petition, early 20th century |
But what struck me most about the documents was how beautiful some of them were.* It's been a few weeks since I last worked at the archives, but I'm looking forward to going back. Even in the moments where it's most difficult to work with Ottoman, there's a certain consolation in merely being able to pick up the documents and wonder at the pen-strokes of what's past.
[*And there's another issue to raise here: How I've chosen to photograph. The oblique, shallow depth-of-field might make for a more pleasing photograph, but it also helps to empty the document of much of its actual administrative content. From municipal to figural?]
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