Editor’s Note

Abstract

This issue of RBM has triple significance. First, it presents a group of written renditions from a recent conference about “silences” in libraries, archives, and museums—about the hidden presence of overlooked or marginalized populations among the collections of mainstream institutions. Let’s admit it to ourselves fairly: generally our collections do not represent our communities as effectively as they might; the human and social experience of many minorities exist as little or nothing more than gaps in our cultural-heritage collections. The articles here, drawn from presentations made at the conference in Philadelphia titled Silences in the LAMs: Digital Surrogacy in the Time of Pandemic , bring into the literature compelling comments about seeking and bringing to light marginalized or subaltern populations hidden in the historical record. Much of the administrative work for this issue was done by guest editor Beth Lander. As journal editor, I hope you will come away from reading the issue with a question forming in your own mind of how silences in your own collection might begin being filled, or what silenced voices or images might be hidden within it.