Opc Archive Research Tips

Bonisiwe Shabane

-Nov 18, 2025, 2:03 PM

Posted November 11, 2022 by OPC of America In 2022, the OPC digitized thousands of printed archives of the club’s newsletters and publications, and uploaded them to Archive.org to make them publicly accessible in one searchable collection. This archive provides a vital chronicle of members and club activities that also presents opportunities for historians, authors and other researchers. You can read a poignant letter from one such researcher who recently used the OPC’s past Bulletin archives to learn details about his own father, Lionel Durand. For those who are new to Archive.org research, below are a few tips to help researchers refine their searches. Here is some information about the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to keep in mind when doing archival research:

We have student activities designed to help you navigate the National Archives and Records Administration Web site resources. Getting Started with Research How to start researching records at the National Archives. Finding your topic, identifying records, planning a visit, and more. This page was last reviewed on May 17, 2024. Contact us with questions or comments. Contact Us · Accessibility · Privacy Policy · Freedom of Information Act · No FEAR Act · USA.gov

Archival research is an important skill for journalists, historians, photographers and other media professionals. Knowing how to effectively collect information from historical records can help add depth, accuracy, and authenticity to your work. The United States Press Agency® (USPA) provides key insights to help you successfully navigate archives. Archival research is crucial for anyone who wants to produce credible and well-researched content. By using archival materials, you can access authentic, original documents that will add more authority to your work. Whether you’re reconstructing historical events, reviewing a report, or uncovering forgotten stories, archival research is an indispensable tool.

To make your archival research productive and efficient, follow these proven strategies: Before you visit an archive, set clear research goals. Ask yourself: Taking the time to outline your goals will ensure that you stay focused and organized throughout the research process. It also helps you identify which archives are most likely to have the information you need. Knowing your goals ahead of time will save you time and prevent you from feeling overwhelmed by large amounts of data.

The process of conducting archival research can be daunting and seem confusing, especially for those who are new to working in an archive. UConn Archives & Special Collections wants to help demystify the research process by providing you with our top 10 tips for doing archival research, which should help with increasing research efficiency and productivity during... Here are some strategies and suggestions for working in the archives from our experienced team of staff and student workers. From planning your visit, to navigating the archive, to processing your research when you are home, we hope that this information will help guide you on your research journey, wherever you may be. For more information on researching from home, check out this post! Archives exist both to preserve historic materials and to make them available for use.

This guide addresses the second purpose by outlining the functions and procedures of archives, and is designed both for first-time archives users and scholars who have already conducted research in archives. The content covers: Repositories and their collecting scopes and practices may differ, but the principles in this guide should assist you in accomplishing your research goals at any archival institution. Libraries in towns (public libraries) or universities (academic libraries) can generally be defined as “collections of books and/or other print or nonprint materials organized and maintained for use.”* Patrons of those libraries can access... Libraries exist to make their collections available to the people they serve. Archives also exist to make their collections available to people, but differ from libraries in both the types of materials they hold, and the way materials are accessed.

Examples of archival materials include: letters written by Abraham Lincoln (Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, Springfield, Illinois), Frank Lloyd Wright’s architectural drawings (Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University, New York), photographs... It’s 2024 and the internet has been changing the entire landscape of genealogy research for over two decades. So many historical records are online—from the big genealogy sites like Ancestry and FamilySearch to volunteer-created databases at local genealogical and historical societies. Even so, it would be a mistake to assume that everything you need is available digitally. It’s very common that the genealogical brick walls my clients bring to me are solved by tracking down a document that wasn’t available on the internet but instead had to be obtained from an... Archives come in all shapes and sizes.

State archives and state- and historical societies might be the biggest institutions, while individual counties and cities often have their own more localized societies and libraries. You will also find archives that cover specific topics or time periods. Last summer I visited the Drake Well Museum in rural Titusville, Pennsylvania. Their archive is very small and focuses on history of the petroleum industry, as the nation’s first oil well was drilled in northeastern Pennsylvania in 1859. Philadelphia, where I live, is home to some remarkable religious archives, including the Presbyterian Historical Society and the Catholic Historical Research Center of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Each one of these has genealogically valuable collections that are not (yet) online.

The most important thing when working with rare and old materials is to move slowly and never try to force an item to do something it doesn't want to do. Speed is never more important than caution! Other key handling points include: (Definitions adapted from the Yale Archives and Buffalo & Eric County Public Library). While conducting your research in the Reading Room, it is important to keep track of where your materials come from in order to cite them properly. We recommend to capture the following information in a written/typed note or photograph:

You can then reference the finding aid to create a citation by pressing the “Citation” button in the top right corner for an automate citation If you are citing a digitized item from the Amherst College Digital Collections webpage, you can scroll down to the Metadata section for general information about the collection title and date. reference the “Shelf Location” field for box and folder numbers. This record also links out to the item’s corresponding catalog record and finding aide. For more detailed guidelines differing by citation style, reference the Purdue Guide to Citing Archival Sources. You can find the box and folder number for an item by selecting an item in the right-hand ‘collection organization’ section, then referring to the location information under the title.

Primary sources are the raw materials of history — original documents and objects that were created at the time under study. They are different from secondary sources, accounts that retell, analyze, or interpret events, usually at a distance of time or place. Sarah Lee AI generated Llama-4-Maverick-17B-128E-Instruct-FP8 7 min read · May 24, 2025 Historical writing is an art that requires meticulous research, attention to detail, and a deep understanding of the past. One of the most critical components of historical writing is archival research, which involves delving into primary sources to uncover new insights and perspectives. In this guide, we will explore the ins and outs of archival research, providing practical tips and real-world examples to help historical writers take their craft to the next level.

Before embarking on an archival research project, it's essential to understand how archives are organized and cataloged. Archives are repositories of historical records and documents, often maintained by institutions, governments, or private organizations. To navigate these vast collections, researchers must familiarize themselves with archival terminology and classification systems. Archival terminology can be daunting, with terms like "fonds," "series," and "items" used to describe different levels of organization. A fonds refers to the entire collection of records created by a particular individual, organization, or institution, while a series is a subgroup of records within a fonds that share a common theme or... An item, on the other hand, is a single document or artifact within a series.

To illustrate this concept, consider the following diagram:

Opc Archive Research Tips

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