History Flashcards
Archival Research
Historical research done in an archive! For many years was considered the only sort of worthwhile research. (See Oral History.) Typically, archival research is document-based. Archival research is non-comprehensive as only certain types of things get into archives. (However, all historical research is non-comprehensive, so that’s not a fault solely of archival research, although it is important to bear in mind. When using archives you need to think about: what types of documents are here? What types aren’t? Where might I find those documents that aren’t here?) Archives frequently have unpublished manuscripts. For instance, the U.S. National Archives have military service records for most service members (not just the famous ones), and have all sorts of papers from governmental agencies, including memos, notes, PowerPoint presentation printouts, etc. Archives typically have finding aids to help you locate relevant holdings. It should be noted that many archives now include oral and visual holdings in addition to documents.
