One thing about archivistry (archivism?) that I never thought about was something from an antiques roadshow- someone had like… circus tickets? And the expert said something like “there’s a class of things that are incredibly rare because they were once so common nobody bothered keeping them”
Oh totally!! That kind of thing that's designed to be thrown away is so interesting to me. It's part of why I like printed porn because it's often designed to be so cheap and discardable
Oh yeah, I was flipping through some old crappily printed pulp porn one time and I remember thinking “I could write a dozen cultural essays from the ads and little side blurbs alone”
If you’re interested in this sort of thing, check out, e.g., letterformarchive.org/news/milwauk...
Oh my god heck yes