History in the Making: The Active Role of Archivists

Sam Winn’s “The Hubris of Neutrality in Archives” challenges the idea of the archivist as a passive, objective keeper of the past. He argues that archivists are active participants in creating our understanding of history. It starts with preservation—but it’s not simply saving everything. Archivists make choices about what’s worth keeping, and those decisions, even if unconscious, shape the historical record. Then comes performance—how materials are organized, described, and presented influences how we interpret them, almost like the archivist is staging the past for us. Finally, Winn contends that archivists are even producing history, especially when they collaborate with communities to document untold stories and challenge established narratives. Essentially, archivists aren’t just handling the past; they’re actively involved in constructing it. Winn’s key message is that we need to ditch the myth of neutrality and recognize the immense power archivists hold—a power that demands honesty, self-awareness, and a commitment to inclusive storytelling.