Quantity with Quality
What are You Doing to Preserve Your History?
Ignoring the past can obfuscate our future
This is my next in a series of articles responding to Dr Mehmet Yildiz’s challenge to produce a short quality article with three take home points each day for thirty days.
I have chosen to use Wikipedia’s main page as inspiration, choosing one topic from their “Did You Know” section as topical encouragement.
Peter Force was an American newspaper editor, politician, printer and archivist of early American history. Born in 1790, Force amassed what is largely considered to be one of the most complete compilations of American history and cartography (maps) involving the American colonies and the American Revolution. The Library of Congress eventually purchased and cataloged Force’s collection.
Force was a two-term mayor of Washington DC, a member of the Smithsonian Institution, the United States Naval Conservatory and played a major role in the American Historical Society. Force also was integral in compiling the Library of Congress’ collection of maps and geographical materials, much of which came from Force’s compilation of such documents over his lifetime.
While it was the practice at the time for historical archivists and editors to revise and edit documents to correct spelling and interpret authors’ intentions, Force maintained a strict policy of never altering documents, and limiting added footnotes. Force felt that keeping the raw documents unaltered provided the most accurate accounting of history.
What We Can Learn from Peter Force
Peter was the son of a Revolutionary War soldier and as such developed an avid devotion to American history. At times he was regarded as impulsive and selfish in his vigorous quest to collect and compile historical documents and geographical materials, however, his dogged determination ultimately provided us with the documentation that preserves our national history.
If it wasn’t for Mr. Force, we may not have as accurate of an accounting of our national history today. He didn’t assume that someone else was doing this important work, and he resisted the temptation to interject his personal biases into his collection.
Take home points:
- We should assume that no one else can tell our own personal and family history as well as we can
- We should avoid coloring our historical re-telling with our own opinions and biases as much as possible
- We create history every day through our actions and what we say. If that history to date isn’t so great, we can make changes right now to begin to construct a more positive history
What are you doing to preserve your personal and family history? How much do you know about your parents, and their parents?
Sometimes people have stories that don’t come out until we ask; if we never ask, that particular version of the story can never be told?
We leave two sorts of legacies. Those told by our actions and words, and those retained in our written and photographic records.
Are you proud of your legacies? Have you recorded them accurately and in a way that they can be accessed and seen by your heirs?
“The more you know about the past, the better prepared you are for the future.” — Theodore Roosevelt.
If you liked this article, you may also like:
Timothy Key spent over 26 years in the fire service as a firefighter/paramedic and various fire chief management roles. He firmly believes that bad managers destroy more than companies, and good managers create a passion that is contagious. Compassion, grace and gratitude drive the world; or at least they should. Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, and join the mail list.
