The primary stuff of history

Earlier this week, we went with some friends to the REEL Politics screening of Prime Minister, a documentary covering the lead-up to and follow-on from Jacinda Ardern’s five years as prime minister of New Zealand.

The film differs from many political documentaries in that it’s based on two primary, contemporary sources: home videos, shot by Ardern’s partner, and Ardern’s oral history interviews with the Alexander Turnbull Library. Both sources started before the election that delivered Ardern the premiership, and continued after, offering an uninterrupted window into her thoughts and experiences while in office.

The film left me reflecting on the primary sources of history—what’s available after the fact to reconstruct what people did, thought, and felt at the time. I’ve long been interested in the accidental primary sources, records created for a contemporary purpose that then help future historians, like ledgers, catalogues, and so on.

A few other examples of political history come to mind. Diaries are a good example of sources created somewhat explicitly with the goal of future reflection, like Jim Coutts’s diaries from the era of Pierre Trudeau’s time as prime minister. But there’s also behind-the-scenes photography, like Adam Scotti’s year-end roundups from his time as Justin Trudeau’s official photographer. 2020 was a big year (pandemic!), as was 2024–25 (resignation!); Scotti also did a 15-year retrospective that’s worth a peruse.

It also had me thinking about all the other kinds of primary sources being created now. What kinds of history could you tell with a copy of someone’s geotagged photo library, for example?

Anyhow, I found it remarkable that New Zealand had an oral history project with political leaders. It seemed both therapeutic for the politicians while in office, but also an incredible source after the fact. Imagine my surprise to learn, after the film, that the Alexander Turnbull Library has ceased its 40+-year run of oral history recordings. A shame for future historians, and just as a documentary exemplifying its worth is making the rounds.

The film is a good watch, though definitely with a few warnings in mind: the film covers the pandemic years in detail, including New Zealand’s version of a convoy / occupation, as well as the response to the Christchurch terrorist attack—no world leader escapes heavy topics, and the film doesn’t shy away from them.

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• Speaking of primary sources and history, we’re getting some golden material from the Artemis II flight. To the moon!
• Mandy Brown on workslop is an insightful tour into the visibility of labour and the demoralizing, debilitating effect of doing “bullshit work”. The answer, as ever, is a return to the people at the heart of anything worth doing.
• Angelo wrote about his experience living with bipolar disorder—and his thriving life.

All the best for the week ahead!

Lucas