The archive has long functioned
as a space of fantasy for academics. The romanticization of the archive dates
at least as far back as the nineteenth century, when historians like Leopold
Von Ranke (1795-1886) began to argue vigorously for primary source based
history. In making the case for archival research, Ranke often characterized his
methodology as a heroic quest. According to Ranke, primary source documents
were like “so many princesses, possibly beautiful, all under a curse and
needing to be saved.”[1] Although more recent academic
accounts usually eschew such problematically gendered language, the notion of
the archive as a quasi-magical space has persisted.
While these fantasies can
provide a potent motivation to pursue original research, they also risk
obscuring the truth about archival research: the most important part of
conducting archival research occurs months before you hit the road or board a
plane. Carefully researching your research trip matters for two interrelated
reasons: funding and timing. If I had not started researching my research trip to
London nine months in advance I could not have afforded to travel to the U.K. However,
I was able to fully fund my trip by securing four different dissertation
research travel grants, the first of which was due eight months before my
intended departure date. In order to secure a travel grant to conduct research,
one must produce a proposal outlining the intended research and a provide a
realistic timeline for the completion of that research.
To that end, I’d like to
dedicate the remainder of this blog post to outlining some concrete tips for making
your research trip dreams come true. They are as follows:
·
Start early and stay
organized from the start.
·
Compile a list of
travel grants, and keep track of deadlines. I know of at least four sources for
dissertation research funding at IU: the College of Arts and Humanities
Institute (CAHI), the University Graduate School (UGS), the Graduate and Professional
Student Government, and the Center for Eighteenth-Century Studies. Many
national organizations (like ASECS) as well as individual libraries offer
funding for graduate students to conduct archival research. If you are having
trouble tracking down funding or want help writing grant proposals, make an
appointment with GradGrants.
·
Begin by identifying
the archives most useful to your project. Start by making a list of libraries
and special collections that likely house materials pertinent to your
historical field, and then search their catalogues.
·
When searching in an
unfamiliar catalogue, actually read the directions on how to use the catalogue
first. Many archives and libraries have separate catalogues for different
collections (e.g., one catalogue for bound materials, another for manuscripts,
and another for ephemera).
·
Be aware that not
everything in a special collection is catalogued online, so don’t be afraid to
email a reference librarian for help early in your research.
·
Focus on undigitized
sources in your grant proposal. If a source is available digitally, your grant
proposal will need to explain how the original version of that source differs
from the digitized version as well as why that difference matters to your
project.
·
Once you’ve identified
the collection(s) you want to visit take note of the archive’s hours. Many
archives aren’t open all day and/or close for government holidays.
[1]
Quoted in Bonnie G. Smith’s “Gender and the Practices of Scientific History:
The Seminar and Archival Research in the Nineteenth Century” (1165) American Historical Review vol. 100,
issue 4 (1995).
Tracey Hutchings-Goetz is a PhD candidate in Indiana University's Department of English and a dissertation year fellow of the Center for Eighteenth-Century Studies. Her dissertation, Touchy Subjects: An Eighteenth-Century Anatomy of Haptic Sensation, makes the case for the importance of the sense of touch to eighteenth-century British literature and culture by attending to the experience and representation of touching and being touched during the period. Last spring, she traveled to London to conduct archival research at the British Library, Wellcome Collection, National Archive, Guildhall Library, and V&A Clothworkers' Center for the Study and Conservation of Textiles and Fabric.
No comments:
Post a Comment