Selecting Archives for Research
In the United States, there is no overarching structure uniting all archives. Instead, it is necessary to know and understand the various kinds of archives, to decide which is most likely to hold the materials you are looking for, and to develop strategies for locating the kind of archival institution you need.
Kinds of archives
There are several kinds of archives that might be of use to you in searching for primary texts:
- Archives of the federal government
- Archives of state government
- Local archival collections and historical societies
- Large manuscript repositories
- Institutional archives, for example:
- University archives
- Religious archives
- Corporate archives
Selecting an archives
Many researchers, both professional and student, rely on word of mouth (or of the footnotes in someone else's work) to find archives that might suit their needs. While much of value can be located this way, a more systematic approach to locating archival sources is likely to be of special value for researching less studied areas and in uncovering the kinds of little-studied material so attractive to researchers. But, without a coherent national archives system or single catalog of materials, successful research demands far more than understanding how to construct a search string. Instead, it is necessary to understand the kinds of material likely to be housed in each general category of archives and the kinds of research needs likely to be supported within each.
- Archives of the federal government:
- The US National Archives & Records Administration (NARA) is charged with providing access to the documentary records of government for citizens and government officials. It is not a repository for US cultural material generally, but rather for evidence of US government actions over time.
- Archives of states:
- As well as its location in the capitol, NARA also has primary responsibility for the system of eleven Presidential Libraries and satelite NARA facilities in several states with more regionally focused collections. Individual state governments also have archives that maintain records of the actions of goverment officials at the state level. Most of these archives can be located through the National Association of Government Archives & Record Administrators (NAGARA).
- Local archival collections and historical societies
- These archives and repositories tend to be far more diverse in their missions and in what they collect. For example, some local historical societies (like the San Diego Historical Society) focus on collecting local or regional material whereas others may define their mission by a specific topical focus (like the ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives in Los Angeles, which collects and provides access to archival material documenting the lives of sexual minorities).
- Large manuscript repositories
Large manuscript repositories like the Yale University Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Repository or the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas are, as with these examples, frequently associated with research universities. These large repositories typically collect and provide access to material from many sources and are often less focused on a particular geographical area than on a general research area. For example, the Harry Ransom Center focuses on important cultural material broadly (including, according to the website, major manuscript collections of James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway, T.S. Eliot, D.H. Lawrence, Isaac Bashevis Singer, and Tennessee Williams and the famous recent $2.5 million acquisition of Norman Mailer's papers).
- Institutional archives (including university archives, religious archives, organizational archives, and corporate archives)
- Typically the smallest and most narrowly focused of the kinds of archives discussed, these sources can be of immense value for specialized research. However, because the mission of these archives is often first to serve their internal institutional constituencies and only secondarily (if at all) to serve unaffiliated researchers, finding information about resources available can be a challenge.
