Archiving as Resistance: The Digital Keepers of Truth
Archiving is an act of resistance. In an age of erasure, digital keepers safeguard truth from being rewritten or buried.
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In times of uncertainty, history teaches us that one of the first battles is over information itself. Governments change hands, policies shift, and suddenly, critical records vanish—rewritten, erased, or buried.
This week, The New Yorker highlighted a growing movement of data hoarders—archivists, librarians, and everyday volunteers working tirelessly to preserve public records threatened by political erasure. From environmental data to public health reports, these digital keepers ensure that information remains accessible, no matter who tries to make it disappear.
This isn’t just about old files and forgotten PDFs. It’s about memory as resistance. When the powerful try to reshape the past, they do so to control the future.
So, what can we do?
Download and archive: Critical reports, community knowledge, and even books that face censorship. The Internet Archive and the American Library Association's Banned & Challenged Books lists and data are great places to start.
Support independent journalism: Outlets like ProPublica and PBS Frontline investigate corruption and preserve public interest reporting.
Secure digital communication: Tools like Signal (encrypted messaging) and ProtonMail (private email) help protect whistleblowers, researchers, and organizers.
Defend access to information: The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) fights censorship and advocates for digital rights.
At Torch & Tinder Press, we believe in archiving not just knowledge, but strategies, stories, and lived experiences that authoritarianism seeks to erase. Freedom is a practice—and so is remembering.
That’s why we’re working on our first Community Quest, My Story, Your Story: Our Fight for Narrative Sovereignty, exploring how storytelling, archiving, and shared memory can resist erasure.
Join the conversation...
💬 What’s one book, article, or historical record you think should never be lost?
💬 Have you ever saved or shared something because you feared it might disappear?
You are the signal.
Keep your torchlight burning.
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