Archival Research

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This course aims to introduce students to archival research. Although primarily used by historians, archives are resources than can be drawn on by a range of disciplines including but not limited to Anthropology, Sociology, researchers in languages and cultures, and others.

Successful archival research requires understanding not only the practicalities of access, but also an awareness of the nature and trajectory of the archive and its collections themselves. The archive is a physical, political and cultural space and as researchers we are also placed in a relationship with it that can raise questions of perspective and ethics.

• Doctoral Students (priority) and MPhil students
• Further details regarding eligibility criteria are available here

Number of sessions: 3

1. Understanding Archives, Monday 16th February - 10.30-12.00, King's College Archive.

This session will introduce students to how archives organise collections, catalogue documents, and the various methods through which researchers can navigate collections and effectively find materials.

This session will be led by Dr Patricia McGuire, Archivist, King’s College and Mr Thomas Davies, Assistant Archivist, King’s College and will take place in the King’s College Archive.

2. The politics of the archive, Thursday 26th February - 10.30-12.00 (Cavonius Room, Gonville & Caius College)

This session will explore the archive as a site of power and politics, and different ethical considerations around the preservation and use of archival collections. As we engage with archives, it is crucial to understand the curation and organisation of knowledge as a form of power which intersects with histories of colonialism, dispossession, and extermination. Equally archives can also echo the inequalities shaping the societies that make them, from gender to race, amongst others. At the same time, both traditional and alternative archives have the potential to link us to subaltern and emerging voices and forms of knowledge.

This session will be led by Dr. Mezna Qato, Director of the Margaret Anstee Centre for Global Studies at Newnham College and convenor of the ‘Archives of the Disappeared’ Research Network at CRASSH.

3. Tackling overseas Libraries and Archives, Monday 2nd March - 10.30-12.00 (Sidgwick Hall, Newnham College)

Exploring archives beyond Britain requires a good deal of research and planning. In this session Prof. James Raven will lead students in thinking through how to approach this kind of research - including how to find catalogues which may not be online; how to approach archivists and librarians, and how to make the most of your foreign research trips.

This session will be led by Prof. James Raven, Fellow of Magdalene College and Director of the Cambridge Project for the Book Trust

By taking part in this course students will:

• be introduced to the range of archival resources available in and through the University of Cambridge;

• gain an understanding of how archives and catalogues are constructed and how to successfully use them as a research resources;

• reflect on how collections are constructed, their silences and what kinds of knowledge and information they produce;

• consider the practicalities of successful archival research in the UK and in archives in other countries;

• develop an awareness of issues of copyright and citation that may arise in archival research.

3 x 1.5h classes

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