Yes, something to that effect. Or else a blank stare-with-gaping mouth. I actually gave a talk once to a group of middle school kids about what I do. It was career day or something. Anyway, I started my presentation with "I'm an archivist. Not an architect. Not an archaeologist. Not an anarchist. An archivist." Then I proceeded to explain what I actually did for a living.
 
Surprisingly, the students reacted rather well to my presentation and had a lot of good questions.
 
Joe Gillette
NARA
College Park, MD


-----Original Message-----
From: Harry Heiss <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Jun 19, 2006 3:38 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Archives as a profession


I wonder how many other archivists have encountered this line of conversation at dinner parties, clubs, and social gatherings:

        "So what do you do for a living?"

        "I'm an archivist."

        "An archivist, eh.  Have you designed any buildings that I'd recognize?"

        "Probably not."


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A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List sponsored by the Society of American Archivists, www.archivists.org. For the terms of participation, please refer to http://www.archivists.org/listservs/arch_listserv_terms.asp.

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