By Robert W. Dalton
Dr. Phillip Stone II ’94 remembers the day in March 2020 that he realized the world had suddenly changed.
Stone, the library archivist and an adjunct professor in government and international affairs, was at lunch and his salad had already been plated.
“That was the moment it really hit me that something different was going on,” says Stone. “It’s something that’s very mundane. Everybody is used to going through a buffet or a salad bar, and suddenly you can’t do that anymore.”
That’s when Stone’s job changed, too. The COVID-19 pandemic was just beginning its sweep across the country, and the Daily Announcements began carrying reminders about washing hands and using hand sanitizer. Soon, Stone was archiving postponements and cancellations instead of events that normally would take place.
“I’m sure nobody on this campus thinks the Daily Announcements are something that needs to be kept perpetually,” Stone says. “But I have to think about that. Historians will use that one day when they are starting to piece together a story. The mundane Daily Announcements and press releases will be a way to figure out what different student groups were doing at various times.”
Stone says part of his dilemma was trying to figure out what to keep. It’s the same dilemma he faces now as life is returning to normal.
“You can’t always know what’s going to matter,” he says. “Things are coming to you, but you have to figure out what’s out there that’s not coming to you and how to get it. That’s where personal relationships matter.”
Stone says the challenge for archivists is they have to face two directions at once. They have to answer questions about the past while at the same time looking forward and trying to decide what materials will be important next year or 30 years from now.
“You’re trying to connect people to the past, but you’re also trying to make sure the future has a past as well,” Stone says. “You’re sitting at the intersection of past, present and future.”