Read on Twitter
I'm interested to hear from antiquarian dealers and auction houses what sorts of considerations you take into account when attempting to sell items documenting evidence of violence. I ask because last night I came upon a listing that showed a victim of genocide with no warning.
I emailed & the vendor responded quickly and shifted the sample images so that the image that shows up in the main listing is different, but I was disturbed by that initial choice--the way the listing was written also made me think the vendor saw it as a titillating selling point
The vendor said they did this in the interest of providing prospective buyers as much information as possible, which I get. But even if we accept that cultural heritage items & historical documentation are economic objects, there is still a human cost they represent.
Most vendors I see who are selling cultural content that includes evidence of violence, racism, assault, etc., or which are historically complex objects, do a great job of taking both the need for information & how people encounter their listings into consideration.
This isn't to call any particular vendor out (this vendor made a great choice & immediately corrected), or to say all vendors do this, but librarians & archivists aren't the only people charged with the intentional & careful contextualization of cultural heritage. That's all.
