How to Research Archives

For students and others who want to investigate the raw materials of history, there is nothing more exciting than an archive. Whether you're writing a paper, tracing your genealogy, or learning about history for personal or professional reasons, a historical archive will provide a wealth of useful information, if you know how to use it. You may or may not find precisely what you're looking for, but your time investment will pay off in fascinating trivia, as well as leads and clues to where else you can look.

Before You Visit

• 1

  Find the correct archive, and make sure you have the most precise one available as related to your subject. Begin your search for information at the local level. Almost any time, place or topic you can think of has been documented and archived at a public or academic library somewhere, often near where significant events took place. For information about marriages, deaths and the daily lives of citizens, state archives and local libraries are a great start. For particular well-known persons, such as artists or politicians, first try their alma maters and hometowns, or their place of residence when they died. There are several universities that specialize in particular types of archives. The University of Texas's Harry Ranson Center, for example, specializes in the archived papers of famous 20th century American, British and French authors.

• 2

  Contact the archive manager or reference librarian to inquire about searching the archive. This librarian will be your best friend during your research, so be open with her about what you are looking for and establish good rapport. Most academic and public libraries will allow visitors to view archival material with minimal supervision. Some sections, however, may require special appointments or memberships or be completely private, often at the request of surviving family members.

• 3

  Learn the rules. Every archive and library is different, but there are some basics you can expect. You will not be allowed to remove materials from an archive, and the regulations for copying pages vary from place to place. Large bags are not allowed and must be stored in lockers or left at home. Ink pens are never allowed in formal archives, as there is a risk of damaging fragile papers. Pencils are the primary tool of archival research. Typically, for the same reasons, food and drinks of any kind are not allowed near the materials. Often photography is allowed, but you will likely have to disable the flash. Some archives and most public libraries allow researchers to use portable scanners to make digital impressions of items.

• 4

  Dive in to your research with a plan. You will have your most desired information, second-tier information that might also serve your purpose and information that is not what you want but may lead you to a source you had not considered. The librarian will guide you to the most relevant items to your project, and those will be the best place to begin. Keep track of what you looked at and what you have found. Be aware that the boxes and bound documents will all, often, look exactly the same. Take careful notes and ask about any documents that appear to be missing or out of order.

• 5

  Mind the clock. Use your time efficiently, but allow yourself to linger and browse through interesting material. The archive is likely not going anywhere, so leave the staff plenty of time to close up shop and they will be happy to see you tomorrow. Mark precisely where you are in your research before you close any books or boxes. If possible, you may be able to leave your materials out overnight or store them apart from the rest of the collection for easy retrieval in the morning.