Archival Research (newbie)

[jsolo25]

I'm a first year PhD student (Latin American history) and so far so good... Yes, the coursework is challenging and keeping up with one's peers can be daunting but all in all, I've enjoyed it way more than what I was doing before. 

 

One thing is concerning me a little bit... I won a modest fellowship (internal school one) to go abroad this summer and do some archival research. Taking travel expenses into account, I have worked it out so that I'll have 11 days in the city where my archive of choice is located. Of the 11, 8 will be total research days... The archive, a small regional Brazilian one, is open 10 hours a day and I realistically expect to spend about 6-8 hours a day researching. I know this is all contingent on many factors, but for some of you more seasoned PhD students on here (especially those in international fields), does about 48-60 hours of total research seem sufficient to gather enough to write a reasonably good short paper to begin send to conferences? 

 

I have a fairly solid idea for the specific period/issue I'm interested in dealing with, and every exchange (via email) I have had with the staff at the archive has been highly positive (I don't really think they get too many international researchers). Still, am I deluding myself by thinking that I could get anything of true value in 8 days of dedicated work? 

 

thanks!

[CrazyCatLady80]

A lot of it depends on the size of the archive and the collection(s). One of the collections I surveyed as a former archivist measured over 2000 feet. I was working on it for six months, five days a week and only saw around 10 percent of it. However, if the collections are smaller, I am sure you will be ok. Do they have finding aids? Ask for those in advance. That way you have an idea what you are looking for when you arrive. 

[vtstevie]

I don't think so. I visited one particular archive many times when writing my MA thesis (certain records there were crucial to my work) but aggregate I bet it added up to less than the 48-60 hours you are budgeting for yourself, and I was very happy with the work I produced. I think given the fact that you are entering into the trip knowing about your time constraints, you won't have a problem. Doubly so if the archive allows you to photocopy/photograph documents.

[lafayette]

Yes, try and see if you are allowed to photocopy or photography the materials. I am personally a fan of the latter -- it helps me move a lot faster through materials, and I can organize the files on my computer.

[CageFree]

The advice I've gotten is to take a tripod and a digital camera and take photos whenever possible (if the archive allows it). Find out if they will let you do that.

[Katzenmusik]

My approach has been to take pictures of as many collections materials as possible with my smartphone, then sort through them later at home. The phone is low-hassle (no having to lug photo equipment), I check to make sure every image is legible, and it works out very well.

Before starting on a new box or file folder, I take a picture of its label so I know later what the materials are. And of course it's important to do daily backups onto a laptop and/or into Dropbox (which you can set to automatically sync your smartphone photos).

Not every archive will allow photos, but it's worth asking about.

[Riotbeard]

There is no answer to this that we can give you.  Sorry, you could definitely get a conference paper out of that much research, but if you don't have "luck"  it could be relatively unproductive.  It also depends on how much auxillary resources you have access to in grad school (newspapers and public sources available in the states).  Sorry.  It is very possible to get a conference paper (honestly a pretty low pressure affair), but you won't know until you come back.

[TMP]

Great advice above.  In all honesty, you don't know what you will find until you get there and open up the files.  It's like opening doors to find the prize.

 

Worst case scenario:  The collection turned out to be useless.  So you get to play in the city!

 

Best case scenario: Gold mine- more material than you know what to do with!  If this happens, just take a very deep breath and say to yourself, "Now I have real evidence of telling the next grant source why I need to come back here, big time."

 

Good archival research means strong sleuthing skills.  Be a detective like Sherlock Holmes or those people on the tv crime drama shows.

[Riotbeard]

My one bit of advice is don't focus so much on photocopying that you don't take in info from the archives.  If you just photocopy and leave, you may lose connections that you make on the spot and then find more (possibly even more interesting things than you came for!).  Also make friends with archivists, most of the time they know more than you about their collections(although not always true...), and can point you to collections you didn't know existed.

[jsolo25]

Thanks for the advice, everyone. It's a regional archive in a pretty underdeveloped part of Brazil and from what I can tell the technological capacities are limited. That being said, there's definitely a lot there (maybe too much), the bulk of which has been largely ignored by historians/researchers. I think I'm going to go for reading smaller amounts of material, not trying to look at everything and anything. In the future I'll have more time to explore the archive. It also seems like a good idea to get to know the archivists, which probably won't be a tough task considering how small the place is. They also said I probably would be able to take non-flash digital photos of certain (although not all) materials. 

[vtstevie]

Also make friends with archivists, most of the time they know more than you about their collections(although not always true...), and can point you to collections you didn't know existed.

 

This is great advice, and I wish someone had given it to me sooner in my career.

[annieca]

As a future archivist and someone who has worked in two archives I cannot stress enough the resource that is the archivist. We know our collections and if we don't know the answer we *will* scour the earth to find it out for you. Ask us!

 

Good luck on your research!