Beyond the Archives: Research as a Lived Process

by Gesa E. Kirsch (Editor), Lucille M. Schultz (Foreword), Liz Rohan (Editor)

This collection of highly readable essays reveals that research is not restricted to library archives. When researchers pursue information and perspectives from sources beyond the archives—from existing people and places— they are often rewarded with unexpected discoveries that enrich their research and their lives. Beyond the Research as a Lived Process presents narratives that demystify and illuminate the research process by showing how personal experiences, family history, and scholarly research intersect. Editors Gesa E. Kirsch and Liz Rohan emphasize how important it is for researchers to tap into their passions, pursuing research subjects that attract their attention with creativity and intuition without limiting themselves to traditional archival sources and research methods. Eighteen contributors from a number of disciplines detail inspiring research opportunities that led to recently published works, while offering insights on such topics as starting and finishing research projects, using a wide range of types of sources and methods, and taking advantage of unexpected leads, chance encounters and simple clues. In addition, the narratives trace the importance of place in archival research, the parallels between the lives of research subjects and researchers, and explore archives as sites that resurrect personal, cultural, and historical memory. Beyond the Archives sheds light on the creative, joyful, and serendipitous nature of research, addressing what attracts researchers to their subjects, as well as what inspires them to produce the most thorough, complete, and engaged scholarly work. This timely and essential volume supplements traditional-method textbooks and effectively models concrete practices of retrieving and synthesizing information by professional researchers.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Research, Essays

188 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, I'm really far behind on reviews. We're going back to things finished in September.

And, we're also working on reviews nobody will read, because they're for books with titles like Beyond the Archives.

But, I promise you, this book was exciting! It's about the stories that underlie research projects different scholars have taken up. Which is more exciting than it sounds! For instance, it's fascinating to find out how may projects were taken up because of a mysterious grandmother/grandfather's involvement in an organization, or because of a mysterious box in an attic. Mysterious boxes! Exciting!

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Unfortunately for me, I've moved far away from any family, so I shan't be finding mysterious boxes full of my grandfather's old magic wands, Nazi propaganda, or man-sized high heels. I don't know what strange cults my uncles and aunts may be a part of, which is why I settled for researching you guys on Goodreads. Not that you aren't mysterious and awesome.

This was the first book I read in a graduate course, and it was the PERFECT introduction to grad school, because this book brought about an epiphany for me: when you do huge research projects, do something that matters to you. It should also be relevant to the field you're doing the research for, but that doesn't mean you should try to do something that is expected of you. This all seems obvious in retrospect, but when you first walk into a graduate classroom, you have no idea what to expect--you just know you don't want to get laughed at.

That said, each chapter is someone in the rhetoric field discussing the strange, mysterious, Nancy Drew-like path they followed to arrive at their final research project, and the various hazards along the way. Like sharks.



Okay, usually not sharks. More likely, it's a roadblock with finding the relevant research, or the inability to find something important...a gravestone that would reveal the date of a death, a gap in the history because of destroyed documents, or hordes of vampire gorillas. Wearing platinum armor and weilding laser guns.



That said, I would recommend this to anyone trying to find inspiration for a big research project. This is a very personal collection of interesting stories that are likely to get you thinking about how you can make your project meaningful, and some of the roadblocks you may encounter on the way. This is good, because it makes it easier to deal with the hazards of research* when you know others have overcome them before you.


















*: Like rabid wombats.

[Leah Mensch · Rating 2 out of 5]

Basically learned that composition scholars don't really have anything overly insightful to say about archives...at least here.

[Matt Sautman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This anthology of writings is well-written, but I find that there isn’t much here that I would use for my own scholarship or bring into my research and argument classes. Personal narratives can be powerful, and that is largely why I do like this book, but I had expected this to deal more with praxis and theory of archival work. I am an incredibly big fan of Malea Powell’s “Dreaming Charles Eastman” though.

[Astrid · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic read, especially if you are a researcher who as spent time in archives and libraries, or are a archivist or librarian interested in heritage and approaches to research. Each essay is written from a unique perspective, coming from rhetoricians, historians, philosophers, all investigating specific questions. Some had little experience working with archival materials, while others were a bit more experienced. Nevertheless, each had interesting stories to tell on how the process of research and working with primary source documents affected their thinking, both in the moment and toward their respective projects. Most notably, many speak to the idea of objectivity with historical research, and how that is challenged and complicated by the personal investment many contributors had in their projects. Far from an endorsement of objectivity, this compilation celebrates the various modes of discovery in archives and the power of experience that lends itself to historical inquiry.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really wonderful collection of pieces overviewing the role of subjectivities in archive collections and research. What is at stake in choosing a research subject one is attached to, and how can one become conscious of this tie? What are the limitations of traditional views of objective research processes and how may they be overcome? While the researches each engage with these questions and more, I did find myself wanting at least one perspective from not an academic but an archivist who reconciled these frameworks with the production of history. Nevertheless, this stands as a good introduction to feminist research methods.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few essays were very interesting and nicely crafted accounts (ones by Powell, Rohan, Vlasopolos, and Mastrangelo/L'Eplattenier). But ultimately, for me, limiting the contributors almost rhetoric and composition scholars made it less valuable than a truly interdisciplinary collection would have been. I was especially surprised and disappointed that there were *no* pieces by historians in a volume about archival research.

[Renee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this book because it was a collection of essays where people discussed how they stumbled upon rewarding research projects. It makes me ambitious to start one of my own. It was easy to read because the authors were mostly rhetoricians.

[Erica · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess I wanted this to be something else. A bit too focused on how historical research overlaps with the details of one's own life. Ended up rather boring, with not much to sink a historian's teeth into.

[MarkMcgwire · Rating 3 out of 5]

i wanna work in a dusty ol library