Archival Ecologies
“Archival Ecologies” investigates how fires, floods, mold blooms and other ecological events are affecting cultural collections and the artifacts and memories they preserve. As climate change leads to more extreme weather events, the interactions between archives and the environments where they reside are becoming increasingly frequent and fraught. This series tells the stories of such archives, their stewards, and their significance for communities at the forefront of climate change. Season One: ”Fire in Lytton” | During the 2021 summer heatwave in the Pacific Northwest, the historic town of Lytton, BC and nearby First Nations reserves suffered a catastrophic wildfire that took local archives, museums and cultural collections with it. In this first season of Archival Ecologies, we’ll tell the stories of those collections and the communities who have stewarded them. Through the voices of those cultural stewards and knowledge keepers and the objects that have been lost (or salvaged), we’ll explore the interwoven histories and geographies of the region and the larger intersections between climate change, cultural preservation and recovery. Created and hosted by Jayme Collins with research, writing and production support from Jamie Rodriguez, Kavya Kamath and Molly Taylor. Music by Hamilton Poe. Sincere thanks to Kouvenda Media for their partnership on this project. A production of Blue Lab with support from Princeton University. To learn more about Archival Ecologies and Blue Lab’s other environmental projects and series visit: http://bluelab.princeton.edu/
Episodes
Two years after a devastating 2021 wildfire burned through much of their village center, community members gather in Lytton, British Columbia for a prayer walk. Big questions inspire and inflect the event: How can the community rebuild? And what will the new community look like? Lytton community members weigh in on preserving their multicultural histories and recovering community identity when the artifacts and cultural collections...
In the wake of the fire, concerns about contamination slow down efforts to salvage material from the burn site. The BC Heritage Emergency Response Network aids Lytton’s organizations—especially the Lytton Chinese History Museum, founded by Lorna Fandrich—to access and recover material from the sites. Most of Lorna’s collection burned, but she was able to recover about 200 objects that will provide the foundation for the new museum....
Nlaka’pamux knowledge keeper John Haugen describes baskets the Lytton First Nation Community lost during the 2021 wildfire and discusses the role of basketry in the community. The meaning and the making of baskets in the community draws together food systems, local ecological knowledge, colonial land and resource use disruptions, and the circulation of baskets and other First Nations cultural material during colonization, when bask...
Nlaka’pamux basket makers Judy Hanna and Peter Sam recount their processes of basket making, how they learned the craft, and share their hopes for the continuation of basketry traditions in their community.
Archival Ecologies is created and hosted by Jayme Collins. It's a production of Blue Lab at Princeton University. Sound design by Sam Riddell and Jayme Collins. Mixing by Sam Riddell.
Richard Forrest, steward of the Lytton Museum and Archives, reflects on the devastating losses sustained by the municipal repository. With a collection predominantly composed of paper photographs, ledgers, and other documents, very little survived the fire at the Lytton Museum and Archives. For Richard, the importance of these materials lay in their ability to tell stories about daily life in the area across centuries. In the wake ...
For the communities in and around Lytton, charting a path to recovery requires navigating multiple stories about the meaning of the fire and the future of the town. While politicians and media alike were quick to cast the event as a climate change event, for locals this story carried implications that delayed rebuilding and raised costs. By contrast, longstanding approaches to adaptation and self-definition in the community, exempl...
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