2010/03/01 by Joshua Finnell, Jerome Marcantel · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Anarchism and Radical Politics #Resistance (ecology) #Computer science #Biology #Ecology
paper · pdf · doi:10.5860/crln.71.3.8341
openalex publication_date 2010/03/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/26
uccinctly stated, anarchy is opposition to authority.Throughout history, and across the globe, anarchists of all stripes have been actively writing, protesting, and working against authority in various forms: political, economic, and social.During this time, various individuals have been collecting and archiving the wealth of anarchist material in the form of posters, books, flyers, and speeches.Given the diversity of thought within anarchism, individual archives vary in scope and breadth.However, each of these archives shares a common belief in the importance of preserving the historical record of anarchist ideas and practices for future adherents and researchers.As a movement based in anti-authoritarian philosophy, many of these archives cannot be found within educational institutions or museums.The Anarchist Archives Project, founded in 1982 and consisting of more than 12,000 items, is but one example of the number of independent archival collections.Independent collections hold a distinct advantage over institutional archives in that many are maintained by anarchists active within the movement.From personal connections, these individuals have direct access to pamphlets and ephemera often published for the expressed purpose of local distribution.Cataloging standards and accessibility are often secondary to the compilation of material.Also, individual archives are often abandoned due to constraints on time and money.Institutional collections, on the other hand, tend to be more specific to historical figures or periods, such as social or labor movements.The advantage to many of these archives is the accessibility created through finding aids and catalog records.In addition, institutional archives tend to be more sustainable in the long-term due to annual