The Limits of Repair: The Case for and Boundaries of Reparative Description

Abstract

This presentation will discuss a group reparative description project undertaken on an assembled archival collection held by New York University Libraries Special Collections that consists of documents concerning enslavement in Spanish-colonized Cuba. Years after its acquisition and accessioning, the Archival Collections Management (ACM) department undertook collaborative reparative description on the collection, applying the recommendations of the Archives for Black Lives in Philadelphia’s Anti-Racist Description Resources. The presentation will discuss the project design and outcomes, as well as larger reflections on the individual, institutional, and systemic challenges encountered and the limitations on archival re-description alone in the service of anti-racism and anti-oppressive.