Exploring the Archives

“The book is exactly what I was looking for. It's really the only book that I've found that works for undergrads, since everything else is directed towards grad students or professional historians.”

Lauren Araiza, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of History, Denison University

“The documentary archive is two-edged. It honors and brings history alive, offering a window into the voices, pains and social injustices of the past. The same window turns history back on itself, using the cracks, and contradiction of the past to imagine new futures, new utopias. Bringing the newcomer into the field through the multiple forms and uses of the archive is brilliant…The field owes the authors a big thanks.”

Norman K. Denzin, Emeritus Professor, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

“In Exploring the Archives: A Beginner’s Guide for Qualitative Researchers, Roulston and deMarrais bring together foundational as well as newer, cutting edge ideas related to archival research. From a discussion of what it means to be an archivist to an examination of the different kinds of archival research, this book offers a thoughtful, thorough, and accessible overview of archival research practices. The book includes both core chapters that introduce key concepts of archival research, as well as reflection chapters that offer rich and illustrative examples of archival research. Indeed, this book serves as the leading resource for scholars interested in completing archival research.”

Jessica Nina Lester, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Inquiry Methodology, Indiana University

“Roulston and deMarrais’ Exploring the Archives: A Beginner’s Guide for Qualitative Researchers is a most welcome and needed addition to the qualitative data collection literature. Like a rare find in the archive, this text overflows with rich details and thoughtful considerations of the nuances of archival work. The authors expertly guide readers through all aspects of qualitative archival work. Insightful examples punctuate the procedural work done in the main chapters of the text. This is a rich resource for anyone interested in qualitative archival research.”

Susan Nordstrom, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Educational Research, The University of Memphis

“This text is most timely, useful, and appropriate for teaching and learning qualitative inquiry in the Social Sciences field. It provides instructors and students with a range of approaches to archival practice. It is wide ranging from the who, what, how, where, and why of the practices. It SHOWS how it is done and provides examples of the authors and the graduate students’ practices. It provides social sciences and qualitative inquiry with a much-needed basic understanding of archival practices.”

Janice B. Fournillier, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Research Measurement and Statistics, Educational Policy Studies, Georgia State University

"(I) Encourage students to read the advice proffered by Roulston and deMarrais – and to use it as a guide towards exploring the archives. The material they find there will enrich our collective body of knowledge."

Review by Nigel Stark for the Journal of Applied Learning & Teaching, 9-1-21

List of Figures and Tables

List of Abbreviations

Acknowledgments

ONE Introduction

TWO  Entering the Archives
Reflection 1 Permissions From the President and Missing Materials: The Challenges of Archival Research
Amanda Ingram

THREE  Examples of Archival Research

FOUR  Archiving Principles and Accessing Archival Collections
Reflection 2 You Won’t Find It Online: Entering the Archives to Tell the Story of the B-52s
Brigette Adair Herron and Scott Creney

FIVE Developing and Implementing a Research Study in the Archives
Reflection 3  Entering the Archives: Developing a Topic
E. Anthony Muhammad

Reflection 4  Entering the Archives: Developing a Topic
Judith Brauer

Reflection 5  The Dark Room: Thomas Evan Walker’s Journey from Pennsgrove, N.J. to France and Back
Kathleen deMarrais

SIX  Digital Repositories and Archiving Qualitative Data
Reflection 6 Accessing Online Repositories
Janie Copple

SEVEN Politics and the Archives
Reflection 7 Lucy and Her Sisters
Jean Swindle

EIGHT  Doing Quality Research with Archives
Reflection 8  Are Some Skeletons Best Left in the Closet? Ethics of Family Research Involving Illicit Activities
Jamie B. Lewis

Additional Resources

Glossary

About the Authors

Index

Kathryn Roulston

Kathryn Roulston is Professor of Qualitative Research in the Mary Frances Early College of Education at the University of Georgia. Her research interests include qualitative research methods, qualitative interviewing, and analyses of talk-in-interaction. She is the author of Interviewing: A Guide to Theory and Practice (2022), Exploring the Archives: A Beginner’s Guide for Qualitative Researchers (with K. deMarrais, 2021), and editor of Interactional Studies of Qualitative Research Interviews (2019). She has contributed chapters to handbooks of qualitative research as well as articles to Qualitative Research, Qualitative Inquiry, the International Journal of Research and Method in Education, and the International Journal of Qualitative Methods, among other journals. In her spare time, she enjoys textile arts, including hand-dyeing, spinning, and weaving.

Kathleen deMarrais

Kathleen deMarrais is Professor, Emerita, Qualitative Research in the Mary Frances Early College of Education at the University of Georgia. Her research interests include qualitative research methods, critical qualitative research, and archival methods. In addition to numerous articles and book chapters, her recent books include Exploring the Archives: A Beginner’s Guide for Qualitative Researchers (with K. Roulston, 2021), Conservative Philanthropies and Organizations Shaping U.S. Educational Policy and Practice (with B. Herron & J. Copple, 2020), and Philanthropy, Hidden Strategy, and Collective Resistance: A Primer for Concerned Educators (with T. J. Brewer, J. C. Atkinson, B. Herron, and J. Lewis, 2019). In her spare time she enjoys gardening, raising chickens, baking pies, and exploring local community history.