The temple of history: historians and the sacralisation of archival work

Abstract

Archives have long been considered central to the work of historians, from nineteenth-century Europe to contemporary Australian practice. Rarely remarked upon is the recurring tendency for some historians to sacralise the process of archival research through the use of religious (usually Christian) symbolism, including temples and churches, sacred relics, pilgrimages, resurrection, rituals and communion. The cumulative effect of this language is to conceal archival labour, privilege the agency and authority of the historian, and undermine many of the public, social and methodological developments otherwise championed by the history discipline in recent decades. This article explores evocations of the ‘temple of history’ in Australia, placing these examples in the context of longer European and American traditions.