Apologies for not posting these on a daily cadence – I was traveling over the past few days but brought my notebook with me, so I am uploading my notes here now. Building off the concept of a history-generating machine and the quote that history are memories revised, I thought this would be a fun idea to work through for how history is “made.”
Day 3 – “Memory Intake”
I started thinking about the intake process of memory before it goes through the process of becoming “history.”
This form will be reviewed or “red lined” through its process
Day 4 – Who works in the revision machine?
I researched where the first historical references were made and were brought back to Ancient Greece. I came across the story of Thucydides dismissing Herodotus when oral history was first debated, so the revisionist history process began. I think of the movie Inside Out and how different characters are associated with emotions. Similarly, I’d like to think there are little “workers” within the machine reviewing and redlining the memory intake form to make it “fit for history.”
Day 5 – The Process
I picture the form going down a conveyor belt, measured against different litmus tests. I imagine there will be examples in the current process that can be used to manage the metaphor further.
Day 6 –
The final part of the process, a revised version of the intake form stamped as “approved” – edited to be fit for history and sent to historians, institutions, and historical societies to further cement into society’s shared story and continue to be debated