Semester B Week 9: Researching with Archives (MO)

Miles Ogborn (m.j.ogborn@qmul.ac.uk)

Archives are not just an issue for historical geography. Defining ‘the archive’ in its broadest terms means including all places where information is stored for later retrieval and use. This might be the national archives of nation-states, through the record-keeping of corporations or charities, right down to a box of letters and family photographs in the attic or even an email inbox. As a result, much research in the social sciences and the humanities – whether on the distant past, recent past or the present – is based on some sort of archival material. This means that we need to address the questions of what the implications of ‘the archive’ are for the research that we do.

This session will address a broad set of issues about the relationships between all forms of archives and the research questions that can be asked of them. It will deal with questions of power and memory in order to explain the inevitable limitations posed by the selection of information for storage and the nature of that storage. It will also consider the iterative nature of archival research, reflecting on the way that archives raise questions for researchers as much as they can provide answers to questions that we bring to them.

Through group discussion based on archival materials we will address the issues of how to formulate questions about archival material which relate their form, content and location in order to begin to offer explanations which use them as evidence. The session will also address practical questions of finding archival materials appropriate to particular areas of research, and of the access to and use of archives.

Preparation for the session

1. You should read the chapter by me (Miles Ogborn) identified as Essential Reading, and reflect on what the term 'archive' means and its implications of knowledge production.

2. You should think about the sorts (and locations) of archival materials relevant to your research (remember to interpret the idea of ‘the archive’ broadly), and how the collection, selection and storage of this information affects what you can do with it. For some support in that you can read the chapter by me identified as Optional Reading.

Learning outcomes

After this session you will be able to:

a) Understand the relationship between power and memory in the archive

b) Analyse the implications of the collection, storage and retrieval of information for research in the social sciences and humanities

c) Formulate questions about archival materials, which consider their form, content and location