Q&A: CITY OF DALLAS ARCHIVIST JOHN SLATE

By CHRISTINA HUGHES BABB

Photos by DANNY FULGENCIO

allas’ city archivist grew up in Austin, spending much of his youth on the University of Texas campus. John Slate’s mother was an associate dean, his father an English professor for 45 years. Slate, perhaps as a result, is a self-proclaimed “lifelong culture nerd.” As a high school student during the tail end of the punk era, Slate launched a fanzine. Using the pseudonym Control Rat X, the young publisher and writer specialized in music criticism. Despite a trajectory that parallels the early career of Cameron Crowe (a comparison he insists is ridiculously exaggerated), Slate never became a reporter for Rolling Stone (he rolls his eyes at the thought; it was too mainstream), and despite his degree in radio/TV/film, he did not become a moviemaker, either. That’s not to say he isn’t a diehard movie buff. He is — simply one drawn to a quieter, less cutthroat industry. He prefers his profession underground, literally, surrounded by historical treasures — documents and images with stories to tell cataloguing, preserving and protecting the past. One of the best at what he does, Slate recently was elected by his peers as a fellow of the Chicago-based Society of American Archivists, which is kind of like getting an Oscar, for archiving.

In the archives, you have direct access to the documents, the images and the roots of some of the craziest, often untold, stories.

Seems you could have gone into music journalism or filmmaking, so why did you choose to pursue library and information sciences with a concentration in archival enterprise, which, to be honest, sounds slightly less, um, cool? Oh no. The answer to that is easy. I love history. Truth is stranger fiction or someone else’s interpretation of the truth. In the archives, you have direct access to the documents, the images and the roots of some of the craziest, often untold, stories. Working around primary sources is so much more interesting. Also the journalism programs and, of course, the film programs at UT were highly competitive and selective. The film program at UT is heralded, but but I just couldn’t see