The finding aid that I chose was of the George Meyer Simpsons script files, as this show is one of my all-time favorites. The collection contains 313 notes, drafts, or scripts from the infamous television show The Simpsons, from 1990-2004, which were either written by or altered by (through annotation or some other form of writing) by George Meyer. These also include censor notes and character design sheets in the artifacts. It is important to note that George Meyer is not the sole writer in this series of documents, though these artifacts span his career with the Simpsons show.
A pertinent historical narrative that I would be able to tell through this collection is how George Meyer’s life or career is reflected through the episodes of The Simpsons. Oftentimes, television comedy writers tend to draw from their own experiences to find material that an audience may be able to relate to. Perhaps there are certain narratives from his own family/friend life that are also seen in elements of The Simpsons, such as through funny characters or through certain scenarios. This can be done by comparing his biography in the finding aid with some of the content in the artifacts. This can be done chronologically over time, as both the writer and the scripts develop simultaneously.
Aspects that would be missing in my narrative would include a large range of family/friend situations that are not mentioned in his biography. Perhaps this can be remedied through an interview of his personal history and its influence on his career. Alternately, interviews with his fellow writers, family, or other significant people in his career, such as other credited writers in this collection (Al Jean, Mike Scully, John Swartzwelder, and Jon Vitti) may be able to allow us to fill in the gaps on this particular narrative. Perhaps also there may be certain scripts, notes, or drawings that are missing from this collection that may have acted as Meyer’s starting point and influences for future scenes or characters in episodes. Also, certain drafts or suggestions may have not actually ended up in the final script for each episode, since so much editing goes in to each episode, especially depending on the time frame and censorship laws at the time.
Overall, I found this collection to be extremely interesting because many narratives could be drawn from this extensive collection. I would have liked to see it divided up more into the type of document/artifact it was, but perhaps this may happen with the data at a later date through narration…
Great post! I like that you mention George Meyer’s life experiences in relation to the episodes as potential sources of narrative. You also mention that the biography does not reflect all of Meyer’s experiences, and that you would need to conduct additional research to link more of the episodes to his experiences. Do you think that this is a failing in the finding aid? Should it provide more context for the evidence it provides? Even though we are attempting to construct narratives solely from finding aids this week, I wonder whether these narratives can ever be complete. Some of the finding aids are so annals-like, even when they provide biographical information, that they almost seem to require us to do outside research in order to construct a complete narrative out of their materials.
Really great post about this particular finding aid! I also worked on it mainly due to my passion and love for watching the Simpsons growing up. I very much agree with you on the fact that the finding aid’s biography and files don’t really go as in depth to showing George Meyer’s own life experiences and background, which feels like it detracts from a possible narrative of how his experiences shaped the Simpsons.
I was wondering how you felt the organization of the aid was like for you? Personally I felt a more chronological assortment would’ve been better for it, mainly because it would help with bridging the gap between how George Meyer’s life experiences of those times affected his show writing.
Excellent post! Thinking about collection policy can really help to uncover what might be missing from the archive, as you have done here.
Awesome post. I also analyzed the Finding Aid for George Meyer and it was interesting to see your take on the narrative that might be left out of the artifacts in the archive. Something that I was thinking about when I looked through this finding aid was what are the potential drawbacks/harms of leaving out such information. Without looking at the archive itself, its not easy to tell; however, leaving out information such as interviews, as you mentioned, could be damaging to the accuracy of the narrative.
I really enjoyed reading this blog post! It’s so interesting how a person’s work can simultaneously tell the narrative of that person’s life as well as the narrative of that work itself. As you mentioned, even television show scripts are couched in real history and the narratives of real people. I made a similar connection in my post regarding Disney Ephemera. I agree that a better understanding of Meyer’s background and history, perhaps through interviews or other materials, would lead to a better understanding of his scripts.
Risha Sanikommu