Name: Gregory S. Hunter
Title: The American Archivist Editor and Professor
Institution: Palmer School of Library and Information Science, LIU Post
Years in Profession: 36
Title of Influential American Archivist Article: “Dear Mary Jane: Some Reflections on Being an Archivist”
Author(s) of Article: John A. Fleckner
Volume and Date: 54:1 (Winter 1991)
How has this article influenced you as an archivist?
I'm sure I won't be the only person who selects this article as among the most influential. I remember hearing John deliver this speech in person at the SAA Annual Meeting. I was struck at the time that John would use his presidential address, the highlight of a long professional career, to share his correspondence with an intern about the meaning of being an archivist. But, of course, that's John Fleckner!
Every semester, when I read this article with a new group of archives students, I remember the start of my own career and John's influence upon it. In the late 1970s, I was the first archivist for the United Negro College Fund, writing a grant proposal for a records survey. John had recently completed his still-excellent SAA Basic Manual on surveys. I had no business approaching someone as prominent as John Fleckner to be on my advisory board; to my surprise, he said yes.
So, "Dear Mary Jane" is one of the great presidential addresses and journal articles because the text truly represents the person behind it—a man of great integrity and abundant generosity. It will influence archivists for generations to come.