Empathy, Ethics, and Mikiso Hane

Sometimes, when trying to relate to people or persons of the past, you can often find yourself a bit disconnected—it was a different time after all. So how is it possible to even comprehend how someone who lived that long ago, even if it was only 30, 40, or 50 years ago, could have similar or likened thoughts? That’s the biggest problem with trying to find yourself in someone without understanding them first. However, I think, that’s part of the benefit of being an archivist. You can take this firsthand account, this type of understanding that isn’t necessarily granted to the average person on the street, something that’s greater. You can apply yourself to the forlorn, the memories of a different place and a different time. This is why I think I’m able to relate to Hane, unlike I would be able to outside of this course. The ability to rummage around in the papers, the projects, and the letters he touched and wrote about everything is tremendous in bridging that gap. It certainly helps that we’re both historians. Even if it’s more a relationship between one of amateur quality thus far and one of the highest academic standards, it exists. It’s tangible. I think when you come to the question of Mikiso’s collection, there are a lot of variables to consider – the fact that his position was of such high standing at Knox that he, in my opinion, possibly leaves one of the larger legacies academically on this campus in the 20th century – therefore, I find it hard to argue that the collection should be limited in any way – I think there are apparent cases of removing the unnecessary, and maybe the stuff indecipherable primarily to the greater populace attempting to view the collection – but the idea of being able to decipher day-to-day how his life was is incredibly fortunate and something you can obviously piece together from the archives. It’s best not to disregard a lot of documents, too. I think my biggest grief, or problem with at least my understanding of archiving coming into this course in general, is the perception of documents that need to be removed or limiting what is in the collection. Everything has a place. Everything deserves a spot in such a powerful mark of such an important person. Ultimately, it I think is incredibly important to consider the effects of your point of view, especially in a collection like this, where it can be hard, at least for me, to understand how to understand. What I mean by that is the disconnect I talked about – between ages, between decades of different normalcies, different common thoughts. Don’t act it isn’t – and take it slow. Maybe that’s a life lesson, too. I don’t know. It certainly feels prevalent here.