Due to what has been called (by a prominent and outspoken Archival Educator) “a reprehensible lack of literacy” among archivists and archives students, SAA has decided to use mass-market appeal to promote reading and comprehension throughout the archival world. In order best to interest the LCD in the field, they have chosen to “supe up” the American Archivist with more “pretty pictures” and “archival rapture,” according to the Publications Officer at SAA Press.
“We keep a close watch on the New York Times bestseller list, in order to scope out our competition and just on the outside chance one of Frank Boles’ books should hit the jackpot market,” the Publications Officer confided. Due to recent mismanagement and death threats from the archival student population, she wishes to remain unnamed.
“We have noticed a strong inclination by the overwhelming majority of Americans to buy what has been referred to as ‘mass market paperback shit,’ and after an extensive User and Usability Study, involving the survey of 35 archival institutions (only 2 of which responded that they didn’t have time for ‘that survey crap’), we have decided that infusing the archival professional literature with nakedity and ripped bodices will encourage more archivists to give a damn about their own profession, or at least raise our publication revenue.”
The debut issue of Archival Smut is now available for $45 an issue through SAA and will hit the newsstands next week. With such articles as “A Series of Steamy Events,” “A Finding Aid for Love,” “The Black Box Rendezvous,” “The Warrior Archivist and the Maiden Genealogist: Star-Cross’d Lovers in the Stacks,” “A Provenance of Passion,” and “A Descriptive Desire,” the SAA hopes to lure the archival community into some semblance of a literate and committed profession.
