Richard,

(1) Scholars:  I agree with much of what you say and appreciate your
speaking up.  I will look for pieces by some of the scholars you
mentioned.  I've had personal contact with scholars such as Joan Hoff,
Stanley Kutler, and the late Steve Ambrose.  Steve relied greatly on
NARA as a resource but never spoke out on public policy issues in any
publications that I could see.  He did send me some nice private notes.
  I was frustrated that someone with so public a presence did not engage
in issues where I thought NARA needed help.  As you all have probably
figured out, I admire moral courage in these areas.

(2)  Listservs:  I  increasingly believe that some of the problem lies
in listservs as a forum.  I received a private, off List message from a
Recmgmt-L subscriber on Friday, which implied, apparently only half
jokingly, that perhaps I did not celebrate the 4th of July.  Sigh.

Some members of my family in Estonia lived under Communist occupation
until 1991.   I certainly cherish the freedoms we have here in the U.S.
and love this country as much as the next person.   I assume the
implication that perhaps I didn't celebrate July 4th (the patriotism
issue?) derived from my perceived stance on the the U.S. Archivist
nomination.  I think the message was sent before the sender had read my
message about my Nixon records experiences (if s/he bothered to read
it).  At least, I hope it was.  I laughed it off when I got it, but
perhaps I should take it more seriously than I did.

Here's why I'm re-thinking the note from Friday.  Someone else sent me
a note today, telling me that s/he believed Bill Roach was addressing
his posting on Time Warner/Iron Warner today to  me.  This is the one
where he said he was signing off the List.  That person thought that
the Time Warner/Iron Mountain subject line was mistaken and that Bill
probably had inadvertently misused it.   Is that the impression others
got?  I seem to have taken Bill's header at face value, and so assumed
his discussion of records disclosure, etc. had something to do with
Iron Mountain.

Rather than be seen as the person who deprived the List of Bill Roach's
presence (is that what Chris's note to the List meant--sorry, I missed
that implication, also), perhaps I should leave it (?).  I'm certainly
willing to unsubscribe if restoring List harmony is perceived as being
for the common good.  I recognize my style of communication differs
 from that used by many of you.  And I defend archivists perhaps more
strongly than I should or at least you want to  hear.  My colleagues
and I at NARA's Nixon Project went through a lot.  More than you'll
ever know.  I'm just trying to protect good people such as them.  None
of this was intended to annoy anyone.  You guys have tough jobs, we
need you, we depend on you and you deserve to have a forum where you
feel comfortable.

I only started speaking out because I wanted to air out issues such as
why archival leaders were characterized here on the List recently as
resorting to character assassination in the U.S. Archivist battle.  And
why archivists were perceived as whiners.  I believed that was unfair
and, well, by now you all know I have issues with fairness.

Also, I have a feeling that some historians and government leaders of
the future are going to come down pretty hard on all of us for some of
what we were and were not doing in the late 20th century and early 21st
century.  But, perhaps I have raised questions people do not want to
discuss here.  If some of you feel you are owed an apology for that, I
do apologize.

I guess unintentionally we all have created a record of some kind
during the last week or so with our postings, starting with Barry's
6/27/05 note about archivists and the Weinstein nomination.  So, maybe
the historians and leaders of the future will have something to read,
here on the List archives, about those and other issues at least, after
all, LOL!

No hard feelings on my end, truly.

Maarja
-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Cox <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent:         Tue, 5 Jul 2005 20:38:45 +0000
Subject:      interdisciplinary communication

The discussion about interdisciplinary communication is an interesting
one, but
it is hardly as dire as some think.  Sociologists studying professions
and
professional structures have long acknowledged that professionals or
experts
tend to focus on their own narrow area of literature, often avoiding
others that
might be beneficial to their own work.  So, the problem within the
records and
information management professions is hardly a unique one.  The
blinders that
seem to inflict the work of archivists, records managers, historians,
and others
who use or manage records can be found in other disciplines as well.
<snip>

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