Feeling Narrative in the archive: the question of serendipity

In this article I consider serendipity and chance in engaging with narratives in the archive. Why is it I ask that serendipity has become a sine qua non of archival research? Without downplaying the rarity and preciousness of chance, my argument is that we should not conflate the gift of the chance with the dim area of perceptive experience, which may or may not be conscious. In positing this argument I draw on Whitehead’s philosophy: more particularly I consider the notion of prehensions in exploring a particular storyline from my own archival research with the papers of Jeanne Bouvier, a French trade unionist in the garment industry. In juxtaposing serendipity with the Whiteheadian lens of imaginative freedom, I chart storylines in the archive on a matrix of rhythmical vibrations and finally I consider narrative work through the synthetic activity of symbolic reference.