National Archives: Divisions with Personalities

Conducting research at State, Federal, or Presidential Archives is very different than research at the local library. The three archival sites that I have visited share certain commonalities. For instance they all hold many treasures that can be used within the classroom. For example, I love to share the random remarks scribbled down on the back of a speech by Clarina Irene Howard Nichols a woman’s equal rights advocate, abolitionist, and editor from the 1850’s found at the Kansas State Archives. The scribbling offers a hint at what lengths she was willing to go to obtain the rights of women. One of the remarks states something to the effect “If women get their rights I will leave the country.” While researching at the Eisenhower Library I found evidence of the impact that the Crisis at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas had on foreign relations. While at the Kansas City Archives I found a copy of the original transcript of the Brown v. BOE case heard in Topeka, Kansas. I also found that either the transcriptionist messed up or they never excused Shirley Mae Hodison. Was she under oath for the rest of her life?

Researching at these facilities though exciting in its own unique way must be done by the rules and procedures of the specific archives. And it is the rules and procedures that can be frustrating. For example at the Eisenhower Library you must be checked and rechecked over and over to make sure that you have not upset the order of the documents or disrupted them in anyway. And when you're ready to scan and/or copy you must be checked one last time. As for the Kansas City Archives the rules are a bit more relaxed with much less checking and scanning taking place as one sifts through the documents. As for copying at the Kansas State Archives I am not sure how they would handle a scanner. Their copying procedures are rather complex to say the least. However, as with anything the more you do it the more you become accustomed to the procedures and nuances.

With all the bi-polarization of rules is aggravating, but it is impossible to get around them and the reason for this is the basic system of archival record keeping. For example, the Kansas City Regional Archives will only take documents produced by the federal government and only within a certain defined region of the United Sates. Conversely, the Eisenhower Library contains documents produced and/or related to the professional and nonprofessional life of Dwight David Eisenhower. And this is the way of things. It is not done by chance but is a specific system of organization that allows researchers and the government officials to more easily identify where documents should either be stored or retrieved.

With all that said I should point out that the staffs at each facility are extremely helpful. Helping to narrow the search to that box or boxes that may hold that hidden treasure you have been looking for. Without the tireless work of these people our time at the archives would be one of deafening screams of frustration. Research is both exceedingly time consuming and exciting and I would not trade it for the world. That is my story and I am sticking to it.