The Bibliographical Society of America (BSA) recently voted on a measure to address the under-representation of particular groups in germane scholarship — and the organization itself. It admits that this practice of under-representation has lead to an unjust reception of these communities’ scholarship. The BSA’s promotion of transparency and direct action is an admirable peer, aligning with the MML’s states principles and beliefs.
This revision is important to the Lab, because it recognizes two things. First, that texts are artifacts subject to political circulation, citation, and archiving. Second, that this political process by which texts become cultural objects is not exempt from the power dynamics which make certain groups, their texts, and scholarship, into under-represented communities. The MML appreciates the BSA’s commitment to acknowledging that “[c]ollections of primary materials that form the basis of bibliographical research have often been developed according to practices that are no longer considered ethical and, in some instances, no longer legal; and many have been broken up and dispersed.”
“Jose Guerrero, Erin McGuirl, and Kyle Triplett as an ad hoc team of volunteers within the Membership Working Group during the summer of 2020″, authored the original document, which got approved by the Council on October 21st, 2020. Read more about the Plan, and its explicit measures to enact it, here.