#sparkchamber 043018 — Kim Andersen
With the calendar page turning tomorrow, we are reminded that time keeps moving forward. Every second that ticks into the future leaves behind another second in the past, adding to our next guest’s workload :-) On this day, #sparkchamber welcomes archivist Kim Andersen. “I am into first-person narrative and primary source documentation — the written word, photographs, moving images, and audio recordings — and real-time expression however it is captured, whether in words, music, art, movement, stillness, silence, etc.” She has found home at State Archives of North Carolina, a state agency that provides guidance on preservation and management of government records, and collects, preserves, and provides public access to historically significant archival materials relating to North Carolina.
Absolutely remarkable and fascinating visual history preserved on Flickr, with a collection of audiovisual material on YouTube. [A nod to the future, live from the past, have a listen to this beautiful rendition of Louis Armstrong’s A Kiss to Build a Dream On, recorded live at UNC Chapel Hill, 8May 1954.]
For a shared experience, an exhibit of photographs — some of which are in the State Archives — opens this week at the NC Museum of History.
1.] Where do ideas come from?
The answer is different for different people. For me, good ideas are usually spawned out of something I hear, see, or otherwise experience that then suddenly coalesces with memories or ideas that are filed away in my mind, and out of that mix comes inspiration that is usually far greater than the sum of the individual parts. Often, too, really big and powerful ideas are generated when people discuss with each other the ideas they have individually — ideas that alone may be impractical or unwieldy or problematic in some way, but when joined with the ideas of others, make sense and become part of a cohesive whole.
2.] What is the itch you are scratching?
I am a bit OCD and being an archivist allows me to indulge my need to organize, to create order out of chaos, and to create mechanisms by which things and information can be found systematically and nothing ever gets lost. I work out a good deal of my OCD tendencies at work and get paid for it (!) which frees me up to live a normal life outside work.
3.] Early bird or night owl, tortoise or hare?
I get up early, drink coffee, go to work, and just roll with it until it’s time to leave!
4.] How do you know when you are done?
I am never done.
