If it is fair to say that archivists are in the business of the past, we can also be said to have a legitimate concern about how others utilize and exploit the past. We appreciate the entertainment value of the past, but we care more about the educationa

If it is fair to say that archivists are in the business of the past, we can also be said to have a legitimate concern about how others utilize and exploit the past. We appreciate the entertainment value of the past, but we care more about the educational value of the past. And we understand that the greatest educational value comes from archives not as a source for images of the past but as the font of evidence. Where we particularly should be taking issue with the mass media use of the past is when it is used for escapism from the present. Indeed, we have a special responsibility to note when slick edu-tainment presentations are built upon narrow selections of the past in order to paper over the moral ambiguities and cruelties of the past which we know are often well reflected in our archives.