Another issue I ran into researching my book about my grandmothers was the issue of who owned what archives and photos and letters, etc. I also wonder if others also feel a certain responsibility towards both the subject of their writing and also those who gave you information or access to archives?
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Julia
May 3, 2017
How to research archives?
How to research archives?
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Test post... I was the archival researcher for a few documentaries for American Masters. One was on Ralph Ellison. This was in ~ 2000, when the internet was young, but the library of congress was online! I got so much info from there so easily! And there were other historical resources that were way more accessible then. Now there is so much noise and things have been monetized, so it is more challenging and time consuming in a way, to find historical info, images and documents online. Feel free to delete this! Just a test with zest.
Thanks, Jill! This is a good point. I was able to do a lot of research online as well, including Ancestry.com, which is wild and whacky world. I think what I was considering is senses of resposibility towards people who gave me access to archives, and their sense of the people about whom I was writing.
I have the world deluxe membership on Ancestry.ca and love it. I have found so many things that some of my family members never knew! I try to get as many stories out of my parents, my grandparents who I would have LOVED to sit down and talk to died quite a few years ago, sadly before I was interested in our family history or 1930s-1950s...
Isn't that always the way, Meghan? I so wish I had thought of this project when younger and could have spoken with them directly. It's great we are doing it now, but it kills me sometimes when I think of the thousand questions I didn't ask. Youth! Wasted on the young!