Scholars are increasingly becoming alarmed about the fate of biographical research. They express concern that algorithmic and AI approaches to data analysis are redefining the professional experience of doing history or writing biography. Sophie Loy-Wilson, a senior lecturer in Australian History at the University of Sydney, emphasizes the significance of tangible correspondence. Here’s why she thinks they’re essential for a full and complete picture of our past. Meanwhile, Julia Baird, author of “Victoria: The Queen,” expresses skepticism about the viability of biographical research as digital correspondence becomes more prevalent. This article explores the challenges faced by biographers in an age where digital records could easily become inaccessible or altered.
Loy-Wilson focuses on the ways that seemingly mundane letters and physical ephemera are crucial to understanding the nuances of historical narratives. As she writes, the move to digital repositories can threaten the richness of biographical scholarship. As Baird discovered in researching Dame Quentin Bryce, this is one of the great truths. As vital as digital archives are, they can’t replicate the density of ideas reflected in original documents. As these two scholars ominously caution, the future of biographical research will be heavily contingent on saving physical documentation.
The Importance of Physical Archives
In this second post, Sophie Loy-Wilson makes the case that letters were more than just private correspondence. That’s because they are crucial historical artifacts themselves, providing an unfiltered look into the social and political zeitgeist of their time.
“Letters certainly play a critical role in how we understand history.” – Sophie Loy-Wilson
As Loy-Wilson goes on to explain, so many great political and social innovations come out of letter writing, which builds connection and community between people. It’s easy to understand why she feels letters serve as an almanac for the ambiguities, uncertainties, and doubts that folks had with their convictions.
“So many important political ideas and social ideas about improving the human condition come from letter writing, people engaging with each other, famous correspondences.” – Sophie Loy-Wilson
Baird, as an archivist and researcher, resonates with the emphasis on material archives. She spent three years painstakingly researching Dame Quentin Bryce’s life on the screen. Most importantly, Baird’s work highlights the ways tangible, physical documents deepen our understanding of biographical stories, giving us a more personal, profound connection to historical figures. She calls her firsthand experiences in the archives, which included these powerful objects, transformative. There, she physically handled old documents and saw the emotional transitions in handwritten letters.
“I absolutely loved being able to read some of this material with my own eye too, in the archives, feeling the aged paper in my hands and watching her scrawl shift with the emotion she was feeling.” – Julia Baird
The Digital Dilemma
As technology rapidly changes, Baird echoes her forefather’s concerns about the future accessibility of our digital correspondence and records. She cautions against potentially lost passwords or self-deleted archives that could become great hurdles for biographers in the future.
“It’s hard to know, but you can imagine passwords and other various blocking agents may provide considerable hurdles to various estates and families.” – Julia Baird
Baird thinks that although digital archives are convenient, they can be dangerous for researchers. She warns that these records could be easily tampered with by bad actors, making it difficult for fact-checkers to track dubious behavior. The use of algorithms to decide what information to sort and display raises worrying implications for authenticity and reliability.
“This transition to the digital world is the greatest kind of revolution in information and information technology, probably in human history, really.” – Sophie Loy-Wilson
Nigel Hamilton agrees with Baird’s fears. He cautions that the shift to digital formats might threaten the rigor of biographical scholarship. As he puts it, AI could write biographies like this in the future. This new development has the potential to transform a person’s experience with their own past.
The Future of Biographical Research
Baird’s concerns are not limited to technological issues. She worries that leaning on digital formats might rob biographical storytelling of its aesthetic power. Her experience with external drives highlights a critical issue. Document formats often become incompatible over time, rendering valuable information inaccessible.
“Much of the tale of discovery and research I did is about which diaries were burned, rewritten, obscured, and which letters were kept out of edited versions.” – Julia Baird
Baird on what it was like to gain access to Queen Victoria’s 141-volume private archive. Without the wonderful letters and diaries, she believes her biography would have been in great peril. She writes frankly about her desire to promote human-centered stories, counteracting the more transactional approach that usually characterizes biography writing.
“I will always insist on reading books by humans. The entire enterprise of biography is, after all, about what it means to be human — deeply flawed but also capable of great things.” – Julia Baird
The move to digital archives presents deep existential challenges for researchers such as Loy-Wilson and Baird. Together, they make the case for a balance between adopting technological improvements and accepting that some things just can’t be replicated in a digital format. We are grateful for their work, which demonstrates that concrete documents such as letters and photographs reveal powerful truths. Digital formats frequently overlook these key nuances.
