| "Archival research is an easy methodology to overlook in our rush to produce new research that sparkles with originality. However, archives allow for foundation-level reassessments of long-held truths in our fields, fundamental reassessments of what we have held to be valuable and what we have held to be trivial, and the production of new insights that grow from the purest form possible of a corpus of evidence. Whether you are reconstructing research that has been profoundly influential, pushing at the boundaries of our field, or sharing analysis of materials that few of your readers will ever get to handle themselves, a visit to the archives offers approaches to research that are unlikely to be available in any other aspect of your career." Joe Sutliff Sanders, 2022 |
The Archive Project by
Recent scholarship on archival research has raised questions concerning the character and impact of 'the archive' on how the traces of the past are researched, the use and analysis of different kinds of archived data, methodological approaches to the practicalities involved, and what kind of theory is drawn on and contributed to by such research. The Archive Project: Archival Research in the Social Sciences builds on these questions, exploring key methodological ideas and debates and engaging in detail with a wide range of archival projects and practices, in order to put to use important theoretical ideas that shed light on the methods involved. Offering an overview of the current 'state of the field' and written by four authors with extensive experience in conducting research in and creating archives around the world, it demonstrates the different ways in which archival methodology, practice and theory can be employed. It also shows how the ideas and approaches detailed in the book can be put into practice by other researchers, working on different kinds of archives and collections. The volume engages with crucial questions, including: What is 'an archive' and how does it come into existence? Why do archival research and how is it done? How can sense be made of the scale and scope of collections and archives? What are the best ways to analyse the traces of the past that remain? What are helpful criteria for evaluating the knowledge claims produced by archival research? What is the importance of community archives? How has the digital turn changed the way in which archival research is carried out? What role is played by the questions that researchers bring into an archive? How do we deal with unexpected encounters in the archive? A rigorous and accessible examination of the methods and choices that shape research 'on the ground' and the ways in which theory, practice and methodology inform one another, this book will appeal to scholars across the social sciences and humanities with interests in archival and documentary research.
Gaillet, L. (2012). (Per)Forming archival research methodologies. College Composition and Communication, 64(1), 35-58.
Simultaneously a summary of conventional thinking about archival research and a call for new ways of thinking.
Roulston, K. (2019). Using archival data to examine interview methods: The case of the former slave project. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 18.
Suggestions for how to absorb, catalogue, and perceive patterns in large bodies of archival data.
Tesar, M. (2015). Ethics and truth in archival research. History of Education, 44(1), 101-114.
Careful thoughts about how to handle sensitive information that is uncovered in archives. Given that archival research sometimes unearths explosive truths, this topic is significant.
A very generous webinar led by professional librarians that defines archival research and outlines common challenges.
A lengthy research methods introduction including creative suggestions on when archives can be useful as well as advice on finding an appropriate archive.
An exploration of the consequences of deciding what does and does not go into an archive.
A powerful first-person recollection about whose history matters and how archives can obscure the privilege bound up with documentation.
Useful reminders of the emotions that can arise during archival research and how to centre research on compassion.
"Sage Research Methods provides access to more than 1000 books, reference works, journal articles, and instructional videos by world-leading academics from across the social sciences and includes the largest collection of qualitative methods books available online from any scholarly publisher."
| Thanks to Joe Sutliff Sanders for helping to source the content for this tab and for providing the annotations to the journal articles. |
