Finding the Marginal in Marginalia: The Importance of Including Marginalia Descriptions in Catalog Entries

Abstract

Marginalia have been created by many varied readers across the centuries, transforming texts into personal artifacts and offering valuable insights into many varied socio-cultural contexts and communities. However, the tendency to record marginalia only where it pertains to bibliographical data has often privileged some voices over others, skewing the historical narrative available to researchers using archive and special collections catalogs. This article explores the importance of recording marginalia (both its presence and its function) in catalog entries in order to allow traditionally marginalized voices to be heard. It provides a brief overview of projects using marginalia to tell unheard stories of marginalized figures challenging authority before questioning the reluctance of catalogers to include detailed descriptions of marginalia, concluding by offering some recommendations as to how marginalia could be cataloged to better represent the myriad of voices as yet unheard.