Archival Research - How to Access the Stuff aka the Archival Records
Part 3 of an ongoing series
Now that you have identified records that will hopefully answer your questions or at least get you a little closer, actually reviewing the materials is the next step. Unlike libraries where you can check out most of the books, DVDs, even crafting materials in some places; archival materials do not leave the building. Securing the materials, so they don’t wander off, is the first step of archival preservation.
So how do you access the materials? You can come into physical archives, you can request materials to be scanned and sent to you or posted online (for example in an online database) or you might be able to hire a local researcher if you live far away from the archives. 1
Many researchers love coming into the archives to work with the actual documents, photographs and maps but the physical archives can also be a barrier. Archives are not always in convenient locations, they may have open hours that don’t work with your schedule and there are lots of rules regarding handling the materials to help preserve them for the next researcher.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, more archives are scanning materials and either sending them to researchers via email or other online file transfer systems. I think the best option is when files are scanned and made available in an online database. It’s a win win - for researchers today and in the future. (I will write a future post, well probably several, on scanning in general, how to do it well and do it once and answer the ever present question of why isn’t everything scanned.)
The last option has a monetary cost. If you live in Boston and need to do research in Oregon and can’t travel yourself, there are lots of professional researchers who you can hire to do the work for you. As with anyone you want to hire, start with a reputable source and find researcher that have experience working locally. 2
For me the very best first step is ask the archivist. More often than you might think, archivists can answer reference questions quickly especially if they have an online database or materials already scanned and living on a server. Reference questions are unique to the individual asking, but often overlap. In a 2 week period, I had 3 researchers wanting information on early Chinese history in Portland. They were each working on different projects, but the source material was the same. I ended up scanning almost all of it and uploading it to the database. Now anyone who wants to learn more about early Chinese history in Portland, Oregon by looking at archival documents can go online and browse.
Even with materials online, asking an archivist for help is quite useful. Just because material is online and OCRed (Optical Character Recognition) does not mean it is easy to figure out. An archivist can help bridge the gap of context.
I’ll include this link again because it is that good. It has everything you need to get started.
Below are examples of different kinds of researchers from professional companies to local historians.