u/Any-Noise-9325

How much more progressive was Herman Melville compared to his contemporaries on the issues of race,class, imperialism?did any other popular writer held similar level of beliefs,or was he really unusual?

What happened to public records or archives of colonial offices, ministries when a country got independent?did the newly found state inherit those or were they destroyed or taken by the colonial state? wouldn't it make sense for the colonizers to alter those documents.So why are state archives considered such authentic pieces of historical record