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Conducting Archival Research: Home

This guide will assist you in performing research in archival repositories. The guide will include general site guidelines, best practices of archives, types of sources, research strategies, navigation of finding aids, and more.

Conducting Archival Research

Conducting archival research is a unique experience compared to conducting research at other cultural institutions. Archival materials are vital because they are original and one-of-a-kind. Scholars value the uniqueness of these items because by visiting the archives, they can access first-hand accounts through diverse formats such as diaries, letters, photographs, and personal notes. Additionally, archives hold secondary and tertiary sources to support research needs. While more institutions are striving to make their collections available through digitization, in-depth archival research may require a visit to the physical location.

Scholars often find that the process of archival research requires proper preparation. This process includes a good grasp of a research topic because it will guide the entire research journey. Thus, many researchers gain context of their topic by taking note of key individuals, organizations, and chronological ranges associated with their research. This insight assists them in locating archival repositories and related collections. Overall, conducting archival research is not an iterative process and will require non-linear approaches. However, understanding general navigation and best practices of archives will significantly assist the research endeavor.

Books Available at the Library & Archives

What are archives?

The word archives can be used in three different ways:

  • The word archives (usually written with a lower case a and sometimes referred to in the singular, as archive) refers to the permanently valuable records—such as letters, reports, accounts, minute books, draft and final manuscripts, and photographs—of people, businesses, and government. These records are kept because they have continuing value to the creating agency and to other potential users. They are the documentary evidence of past events. They are the facts we use to interpret and understand history.
  • An Archives (often written with a capital A and usually, but not always, in the plural) is an organization dedicated to preserving the documentary heritage of a particular group: a city, a province or state, a business, a university, or a community. For example, the National Archives and Records Administration in the United States, Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan, The Coca-Cola Company Archives, and The Archives of the Episcopal Church are all responsible for the preservation and management of archives.
  • The word archives is also used to refer to the building or part of a building in which archival materials are kept, i.e., the archival repository itself.

Excerpted from The Story Behind the Book: Preserving Authors’ and Publishers’ Archives by Laura Millar

What is an Archivist?

In the course of everyday life, individuals, organizations, and governments create and keep information about their activities. These records may be personal and unplanned—a photograph, a letter to a friend, notes toward a manuscript—or they may be official and widely shared—financial and legal documents, recordings of public speeches, medical files, and electronic records. These records, and the places in which they are kept, are called archives, and archivists are the professionals who assess, collect, organize, preserve, and provide access to these records.

Source: Society of American Archivists. (2016, September). What are archives? Retrieved from www2.archivists.org/about-archives.

Experience of a Scholar in the Archives

An Introduction to Archives