planning archive dash to a city (and country!) ive never done research in before. had it all planned out but i *know* (see williamgpooley.wordpress.com/2024/02/19/d...) the number one rule ALWAYS triple check. emailed archives: they would indeed be closed that day 🗃️😅 - ThreadSky

willpooley.bsky.social • 55 days ago

planning archive dash to a city (and country!) ive never done research in before.
had it all planned out but i *know* (see https://williamgpooley.wordpress.com/2024/02/19/doing-archival-research/) the number one rule

ALWAYS triple check.

emailed archives: they would indeed be closed that day 🗃️😅

Comments

harriettruscott.bsky.social•55 days ago

I entirely agree with the need to check cafe locations and opening hours, after really struggling at the Residencia de Estudiantes archive in Madrid. I ended up eating a selection of nuts and chocolate from a local mini-market.

addressingart.bsky.social•54 days ago

Of course sometimes they do have a cafe but because it’s France they sometimes don’t have any food in it 😭🫠😂

willpooley.bsky.social•54 days ago

yesss. thankfully many of the departmental archives are in the kinds of outskirts where a lidl is nearby

exeterunispeccoll.bsky.social•53 days ago

This is such fantastic advice for archive users - thank you! We particularly appreciate the tip to check the catalogues and websites first before emailing archive services 🙏

willpooley.bsky.social•53 days ago

😆

rikardfvs.bsky.social•53 days ago

Great guide!

madsenbyhansen.bsky.social•55 days ago

Solid advice👍

atrbirkett.bsky.social•53 days ago

Ohh, right in time to add to a resource list for a lecture next week! Thanks!

paulclammer.bsky.social•55 days ago

Great article. I certainly learned a few of those must do tips the hard way!

johnjoemctague.bsky.social•53 days ago

Wait are we using ‘archives’ in the singular now? I must have missed the twitter discourse about this.

willpooley.bsky.social•53 days ago

it’s ahem actually a point from archives scholarship 😝
no archives is singular etc etc

willpooley.bsky.social•53 days ago

but then you’re looking at a guy who literally set out to write a book about ‘witchcraft’ and now has a long section in the intro about why the correct term is ‘witchcrafts’ so im a sucker for pluralization

johnjoemctague.bsky.social•53 days ago

Time to wheel out archiveses, precious.

derrylm.bsky.social•51 days ago

I had to almost last minute add a day in London because Lambeth Palace Library was closed on Monday and we were coming down from a research trip in Scotland for one small set of papers. Luckily, I found other things to put in the novel in my downtime.

qiaoj.bsky.social•55 days ago

Wonderful guide! I'd add to the last bit: if the archivist's help was invaluable in helping you find your way (and it often is), keep a record of their name to add later to your article/book acknowledgements.

gorillalibrarian.bsky.social•54 days ago

📌

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