1. Introduction to Archival Research
English 102
Kimberly Turner

2. Why should you conduct historical research?
Historical research tells us about where we came from
Historical research tells us how we came to be
Historical research gives us a look at the root of modern ideas, institutions, ideas, values, etc.
Historical research helps us look at the word through different eyes

3. What are your goals as a historical researcher?
Historical researchers DO NOT simply to collect facts about the past
Historical researchers examine and investigate ideas/realities that shaped the lives of people in earlier societies

4. What will you do as a historical researcher?
Ask historical questions!
Examine primary sources!
Interpret the past!

5. What are the skills you will use as a historical researcher?
Dr. Carroll Van West, TN State Historian
Logo for the Society of Appalachian Historians

6. Use historical evidence
Ask the basic questions:
Who created the document?
Who was the intended audience?
For what purpose was the document created?
What kind of language does the author use?
Also ask yourself:
Is my evidence relevant to my topic?
Is my evidence sufficient?
What inferences (generalizations) can I reasonably draw from this kind of evidence?

7. Comparison
Comparing sources helps historical researchers get to the bottom of “what happened”
Would you believe me if I told you the Civil War never actually happened?
What if you began researching and a noted 19th century American scholar agreed with me?
Considering multiple perspectives about the same event can give historical researchers important glimpses into issues of gender, class, race, religion, etc.
If you found an interview with a surviving 3rd class passenger of the Titanic, how do you think it would differ from a surviving first class passenger?

8. Contextualization
You must consider the context in which an event occurred.
Historical researchers don’t think about events in isolation  They try to think about people/events in terms of the unique historical contexts which shaped them
Contextual questions include:
What role did political issues play in the event?
What contemporary theories influenced the text?
What was the impact (social, political, religious, intellectual, etc.) of the event?

9. Causation
Historical events almost never have one simple cause.
Historical researchers are careful to avoid pinpointing simple cause-and-effect relationships as explanations for events.
Don’t confuse causation with CORRELATION.
What is correlation?
When two or more events happen at the same time
Ex – comet can be seen all throughout Europe AND William of Normandy invaded England
Did the comet cause William to invade? Probably not.

10. Continuity and change over time
Continuity – the thing that stays the same over time
Historical researchers are interested in the relationship between continuity and change
Example:
How did the Black Death impact the economic and legal status of European peasants?
You would examine: 1) the changes brought about by the bubonic plague
2) the ongoing institution of serfdom

11. Interpretation
Historical sources must be interpreted in order to tell us something about the past.
Sometimes historians use different focuses to examine a document or text guided by their own interests.
Feminist historians
Economic historians
Social historians
Etc.
Think about what approach a historical researcher uses as you evaluate his/her work.

12. Periodization
Periodization – the organization of the past into segments that share similar characteristics
Can you think of some examples of how we do this?
Considering your research focus, you might think of a period of time and identify a “turning point” that is different than another historian with a different focus in mind.
Let’s think of an example.

13. argumentation
Writing about history is simply writing about the facts of “what happened.”
Historical researchers evaluate and interpret the evidence of their sources.
THEN, they construct arguments supporting the conclusions they have reached about the meaning/significance of that evidence.
Your job as a historical researcher:
You will critically evaluate the arguments authors make in your secondary sources.
You will construct an argument in support of a thesis based on the evidence of your sources.

14. Synthesis
Synthesis – analyzing and evaluating multiple sources, examining their relationships to each other, and developing a new perspective on the topic you’re exploring
To write a research paper:
Identify relevant primary and secondary sources
Evaluate usefulness of the sources
Consider sources that offer conflicting information/points of view
Synthesize the information they contain
Develop a thesis that reflects your conclusion

15. Here’s a Helpful hint! Let’s take a look at box 6.1 (pg. 149)
The 5 C’s of Thinking Like a Historian
Change over Time
Context
Causality
Contingency
Complexity

16. Everything is Rhetorical
Nothing was or is written or created in a vacuum; our job as teachers/researchers working with primary texts is model how to
Discover what those texts mean in their original contexts
And then trace the resonances, consequences, and new iterations of meaning as those texts are reinterpreted.

17. Ask the Rhetorical Basics
What is the text/object/phenomenon in question?
When was it written/created?
Who wrote it or created it?
For whom was it written or created (intended audience)?
Who, as far as you can tell, was the actual audience?
Why was it written or created (intended purpose)?
What were the text’s or phenomenon’s actual consequences?
What larger historical, cultural, or social practice or movement might the text/phenomenon be a part of?

18. Diachronic or Synchronic Analysis?
Diachronic: looking at the same or similar texts in multiple points in time, or comparing two periods or eras. This is rhetorical analysis over time.
Synchronic: looking at a single or cluster of similar texts as they exist at one point in time, looking deeply into how and what meaning is created in that time and place. This is a rhetorical analysis that creates a profile of significance of the text in one time or place.
See pp in RoI for sample questions and ideas.

19. Let’s Look at a Primary Source!
UTK football program, 1944

20. Let’s Look at a Primary Source!

21. Let’s compare!
UTK football program, 1974

22. Let’s compare!

23. Help from Secondary Sources
Secondary sources are useful to help interpret place and time
Be aware that those secondary sources are also rhetorical and subject to influence.
Don’t forget to ask your own questions.

24. In Sum, For Student or Professionals…
Decide on a question – an item, a phenomenon, a text to investigate.
Ask the rhetorical basics to help establish groundwork.
As you are asking these questions, decide which kind of analysis you want to do, diachronic or synchronic.
Use secondary sources to help you interpret what you find, but don’t rely on them exclusively. Ask your own questions, too, and be sure analysis is contextually grounded.