RNC 2008: Send Your Artifacts Of Protest, Arrest, Suffering, Etc. To The Minnesota Historical Society! (Mailing Address Included In This Blog Entry)

Sir, the Minnesota Historical Society has authorized me to collect your ammo.

After mailing some of my junk from RNC 2008 in a big padded manila envelope, I received a donation form in the mail from the Minnesota Historical Society, and it was so...official.

I mean, the stuff I'm giving them seems to me like regular old personal crap: a broken digital camera, a t-shirt, a press pass I found on the ground after the tear gas and smoke grenade melee on September 4. But...

...the forms I received in the mail convey a certain solemn feeling about what these items mean. In fact, the cover letter said "I'm particularly excited about the camera--not only is it a great artifact to document bloggers and their presence at the convention, it is also the first digital camera of any kind that we have acquired."

What Matters Is The STORY

As I opened the letter, a small sticker fell out which said "Missile Dick Chicks." The letter said "Our Acquisitions Committee opted not to take it for the permanent collection simply because stickers don't hold up very well over time."

Huh. I wonder how well objects made of LATEX hold up over time? Maybe I can convince some of the Missile Dick Chicks to...well, never mind. This is a family-oriented blog.

The letter kindly concluded this way: "I've printed out the relevant entries from your blog, and I will keep them in our files. It is always nice to receive objects with such interesting stories attached to them."

Deed Of Gift To The Society's Collections

I was struck by the careful, solemn description of each object the society accepted as a donation, like one might describe the "personal effects" of a soldier who died in battle: "T-shirt from Poor People's March. White cotton T-shirt has black and white illustration on front of several people marching together. Person at front center holds a child on his shoulders..."

I did have to make some minor alterations to the donor form, careful of the nitty-gritty historical details: I didn't use my camera JUST on 9/4/2008, but on ALL FOUR DAYS of the Republican National Convention. And I didn't wear a "Poor People's March" shirt DURING the march, as I was conscious of my "blogger media" role and trying to be somewhat objective. Rather, I bought the shirt as a souvenir, stuffed it in my backpack, but then I put on the shirt AFTER the march because my own shirt was full of tear gas from the "Mickey's Diner" incident.

Oh, and I didn't CLIMB over a concrete barrier. I LEAPED. Not successfully, however.

You, Too, Can Be Part Of History

There are many other artifacts out there, which can play a useful role if donated to the Historical Society. (Though stuff like rubber bullets, spent gas grenades, etc. should probably be made available to lawyers gathering documentation for civil suits)

I'm told the historical society has PLENTY of fliers, and I already know they don't need stickers.

You can query the curator, Matthew G. Anderson, at his email: matthew.anderson@MNHS.ORG and/or write to him at Matthew G. Anderson, Collections Department, Minnesota Historical Society, 345 Kellogg Blvd. West, St. Paul, MN 55102-1906.