[ARSCLIST] was Mass Digitization-now why preserve

[Karl Miller <karl.miller@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

"Steven C. Barr(x)" <stevenc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:    ***Further, at least IMO, the reason for preserving intellectual property, including things like newspapers, magazines, sound recordings, still and moving images, usw. is so our posterity (assuming we have such a thing) will have the necessary information to understand and/or comprehend our times.

I believe that the reason we have such little support for preservation is that society does not value history. What is the value of history? I just typed that in at google. Most of what I read suggests that the documentation of history satisfies curiosity. 
   
  One other reference I encountered came from a 1934 speech to the Kansas Historical Society, "The point I wish to emphasize is that our history is in the making; it is not a dead thing to be pulled out and praised or deplored; and our Historical Society, therefore, is not merely a custodian of the past, but is the recorder of the present, and so is as vital and essential to Kansas as any department of the state."
   
  I also found the statement "Public appropriations for historical societies have been reduced everywhere." I thought to myself, so what else is new...
   
  So what is the value of our recorded history. How does one place its worth within a context of what is valued by our current society?

  Karl