Overlooked and Under Documented: Examining Diversity Initiatives Within Obituaries and Archives

WNSR New School Radio

Diversity in representation after death can be found in both obituaries and archives, but it's not something that happens overnight, and it is not something that happens on it’s own. If death as an act is the only thing that transcends all else, then studying its representation in our society and who we choose to remember could be helpful to understanding our country’s long suppression of diversity. I reached out to an obituaries writer at The New York Times and an archive librarian at University of Santa Barbara’s Special Collection Library to learn about the diversity initiatives these two institutions have taken on.