Archiving the Past, Encountering the Self: An Autoethnographic Inquiry into Memory, Identity, and Archival Practice

Lecture in Korean

Image of Ahn Hyung-ju collection at the UCLA East Asian Library (provided by the guest speaker, Sep. 2026)

Chae Yeon Lee, KF Global Challenger Participant, UCLA East Asian Library

Thursday, November 12, 2026
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Bunche Hall, Rm 10383 (10th floor)

Archives are often understood as repositories of historical records, while archivists are positioned as professionals responsible for preserving, organizing, and describing them. Yet archival work is not simply a neutral encounter between a professional and historical materials. Archivists bring their own memories, identities, cultural backgrounds, and historical understanding into their interactions with records. What happens when the histories preserved in an archive intersect with the personal memories and lived experiences of the archivists working with them?

In this presentation, Ms. Chae Yeon Lee explores how archival encounters evoke personal memories and how those memories, in turn, shape the ways archivists interpret and engage with historical records. She draws on her experience as a Korean visiting librarian at the UCLA East Asian Library, in her ongoing autoethnographic study to examine encounters with archival collections documenting Korean and Korean American histories. Through an autoethnographic approach, this study considers archival processing as a reciprocal and interpretive process in which records and archivists continually shape one another. Instead of treating personal memory merely as a source of subjective bias, it explores how memory may direct an archivist’s attention toward historical details, raise new questions, and influence the interpretation of archival materials. At the same time, encounters with historical records may unsettle previously held understandings of personal and collective history, prompting archivists to reconsider their own identities and relationships to the past. The study therefore examines the intersections of personal memory, collective history, professional practice, and the affective dimensions of archival work.

By foregrounding the archivist’s lived experience, this presentation seeks to contribute to discussions of archival subjectivity, positionality, and the relationship between memory and archival practice. It suggests that archival work involves not only the preservation and representation of the past but also an ongoing encounter through which historical meanings and personal understandings are negotiated. In doing so, the study invites further reflection on how archivists’ situated experiences participate in the interpretation of historical records and how acknowledging these experiences might enrich archival scholarship and practice.

Sponsor(s): Center for Korean Studies