As Rachel Basinger notes at Perspectives Daily, historians use the federal census to make sense of the past. I don’t use the census in my own research, but I have asked students to write neighborhood histories of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania based on...
historical research
American Historical Association James Grossman on Research Access and Scholarly Equity
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxgQIAHX8kg&w=560&h=315] Here is Grossman at Perspectives on History: Access to research materials—both print and digital—is crucial for any historian engaged in scholarship and teaching. For historians working outside of well-resourced colleges and universities, gaining access to these materials has become...
Out of the Zoo: Wins and Losses
Annie Thorn is a sophomore history major from Kalamazoo, Michigan and our intern here at The Way of Improvement Leads Home. As part of her internship she is writing a weekly column titled “Out of the Zoo.” It focuses on life as...
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...
Slavery Databases
Over at Boston 1775, J.L. Bell has a nice roundup of some of the best databases about enslaved people. Here is a taste: This is just one of several online databases about enslaved people that researchers can now use. There’s...
The Penn Slavery Project
Students at the University of Pennsylvania have been exploring the university’s connection to slavery through the Penn Slavery Project. The Daily Pennsylvanian reports on how things are going. Here is a taste of Giovanna Paz’s piece, “New findings from Penn Slavery...
The Author’s Corner with Paul Escott
Paul Escott is Reynolds Professor of History at Wake Forest University. This interview is based on his new book, Rethinking the Civil War Era: Directions for Research (The University Press of Kentucky, 2018). JF: What led you to write Rethinking the Civil War Era? PE: I...
An Unusual Damage Claim Sheds Some Light on the Battle of Connecticut Farms
This summer, when I am not writing about the court evangelicals, I have been working on a book on the American Revolution. On a good day I get in about five hours of research, and I am fortunate to have...
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:...
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,...
From the Archives: Messiah College History Department in *The American Scholar*
This post originally ran at The Way of Improvement Leads Home on December 14, 2014–JF Anthony Grafton (Princeton University) and James Grossman (American Historical Association), the authors of the “No More Plan B” proposal that challenged graduate programs in history to think about training...
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:...
Time Travel Can Get Tiring
I am in Mount Vernon, Virginia for a month. I am working on my next book project at the Fred W. Smith Memorial Library for the Study of George Washington. I am sure I will write more about my experience...
A Pastor's Guide to Historical Research
In a world in which ministers are encouraged to run for office and bombarded with claims about religion and the nation’s founding, Beth Allison Barr of Baylor University has written a very useful post titled “A Pastor’s Guide to Reliable Historical...
On Writing the History of the American Bible Society–Update #97
My last post in this series was November 18, 2014. I have actually done very little writing on the American Bible Society book since then. I had some health issues that disrupted my work flow on the project, but my […]
Messiah College History Department in The American Scholar: The Power of Undergraduate Research
Messiah College history students conducting research in a 19th c. cemetery Anthony Grafton (Princeton University) and James Grossman (American Historical Association), the authors of the “No More Plan B” proposal that challenged graduate programs in history to think about training Ph.D students for careers...
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,...
On Writing the History of the American Bible Society–Update #90
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L842mz-tNBQ]Want to get some context for this post? Click here.Mama said there’d days like this. I was unable to carve out any time today to work on the American Bible Society project. Instead, I was in a local diner at 4:45...