Peter Olsen-Harbich, a Ph.D Candidate at William & Mary, reflects on his experience working with the Winthrop Family Papers at the Massachusetts Historical Society. Here is a taste: Among the austere manuscripts of the Massachusetts Historical Society’s collection resides an...
archival research
“The Excavation of Rachel H. Flowers”
Check out my Messiah College history colleague Bernardo Michael and Messiah history alum Christina Thomas in this short documentary on Christina’s work on Rachel Flowers, the first African American student to graduate from Messiah. Christina is currently a doctoral candidate...
The David Library of the American Revolution in Washington Crossing is Closing
I was recently contemplating a research trip to the David Library of the American Revolution (DLAR) in Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania. I have some left-over professional development money that I need to spend by the end of June and the DLAR...
Robert Caro on Working in Archives
Robert Caro, the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and Lyndon Johnson biographer, recently published Working: Research, Interviewing, Writing. Here is a the publisher’s description: For the first time in book form, Robert Caro gives us a glimpse into his own life and work...
Archives Season
Over at AHA Today, Christina Copland, a Ph.D candidate at University of Southern California, has a nice piece on summer archive work. Here is a taste: Larger archives are the watering holes of the history world. Some offer meet...
How to Have a Great Experience in the Archives
Apparently today is archive day at The Way of Improvement Leads Home. If you are new to working in the archives, I recommend taking a look at Andrea Turpin’s recent post at Religion in American History: “Adventures in the Archives:...
Can a “Discovery” Be Made in an Archive?
I am in the archives this week. I am hoping to discover something that will be useful to my current research project. I am not expecting to uncover something that no one has ever seen before, but if I do...
Summer in the Archives
I will be in the archives this summer. If all works out as I have planned it, I hope to be spending some time at the New Jersey State Archives in Trenton. Stay tuned. Over at Religion in American History,...
More Archival Research Tips from Lisa Munro
Last week we did a post on Lisa Munro‘s tips for historians doing archival research. Now Munro is back with a second post on the topic. Here are some of her thoughts on organization in the archives: The other thing that is vitally...
Some Great Tips for Archival Research
Lisa Munro, a recent Ph.D in Latin American history, has started what appears to be a great introduction to archival research for historians. (It is the first of a multi-post series at her blog). Munro starts her series with four general tips:...
Serendipity in the Archives
Last week the Messiah College History Department hosted Philip Deloria of the University of Michigan for our annual American Democracy Lecture. Deloria was very gracious with his time. Not only did he deliver an evening lecture to about 350 students,...