Primary Source Instruction for MTSU 4016: History of Communications, Fall Semester 2023
This guide presents selected archival resources for MSTU:4016, The History of Communication taught by Dr. Ioana Literat. An overview of archival research and primary sources will be provided, followed by exploration of relevant historical text, images, and objects from the Gottesman Libraries with an emphasis on primary source analysis, documentation, and a discussion of multi-modal versus traditional research papers.
Information, documentation, and research has traditionally revolved around an individual conducting deep dives into topics related to particular areas of interested research, expanding the points of overall knowledge by degrees for particular audiences within the framework of a specific field. However, as the age of computer and computation emerged, we, as researchers, have the opportunity to expand not only the breadth of our research, but also reach a wider audience, with a greater array of tools through the digital humanities, storytelling, and other multimedia platforms.
While the “Digital Humanities” can be dated back to the earliest days of computing, the ubiquity of computers and digital tools in the 21st century offer students, faculty, and independent researchers the opportunity to use greater amounts of data, documentation, and related research in new and interesting methods that promote increasingly transdisciplinary, collaborative research, teaching and publishing.
Often interactive, multimodal projects allow students to use more of the data they are collecting (whether this is textual, quantitative, or qualitative), create and utilize greater social networks, develop iterative development of long-term research interests, and—perhaps most importantly—potentially craft projects that have long lasting engagement through storytelling.
Tools and Ideas for Multimodal and Media projects
Below are just a few of the potential resources available to researchers to create comprehensive projects.
Digital Humanities Projects and Ideas
Archival Tools for locating Primary Sources
- Archive Grid, a network of archival collections held by libraries, historical societies, museums, and archives
- Archives of American Art - Smithsonian Institution - the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washington, D.C. and New York City.
- National Archives - Produced by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), an independent agency of the United States government, which is officially responsible for maintaining and publishing the legally authentic and authoritative copies of acts of Congress, presidential proclamations and executive orders, federal regulations, and a wealth of other historical documents and records.
- New York Public Library Digital Collections, contains 901,739 items digitized from The New York Public Library's collections, and described as "a living database with new materials added every day, featuring prints, photographs, maps, manuscripts, streaming video, and more"
- Teachers College Digital Collections the digital archive of Teachers College, Columbia University which contains rare and original items, many of which can be found only at Teachers College. The scope includes: primary sources, dissertations, and media from some of the most influential figures in education, psychology, and health.
- Proquest Historical Newspapers provides Full-text and full-image articles from major American newspapers: Atlanta Constitution, Baltimore Sun (1837-1985), Boston Globe, Call and Post (1934-1991), Chicago Tribune, Christian Science Monitor (1908-1997), Irish Times (1859-2009), Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Norfolk Journal and Guide (1921-2003), Philadelphia Tribune (1912-2001), San Francisco Chronicle (1865-1922), Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Scotsman (1817-1950) every page in PDF files.
Locating Physical Archives
Depending on your interests, there are several ways to locate primary resources that may be of interest to you. These include searching online catalogs, national or institutional archival databases, or inquiring directly at individual institutions. Any institution could potentially have an archive, from a small theater to governmental agencies or corporations. If you have an interest in a particular institution, you should contact that institution directly to inquire if they have an archive and whether you may access it. Here is a very small selection of some of New York City's largest institutions with physical archives:
- Finding Aids Portal for New York University's Fales Library & Special Collections
- New York City Board of Education Records, 1842-2002 - Records of the Board of Education, from its creation in 1842 to its replacement by a mayoral Department of Education in 2002. Also included are records of the Board of Education of the City of Brooklyn from 1853 to 1897. These records document aspects of educational policy-making and school-system administration. Located at the New York City Municipal Archives. See here for the Digital Gallery of New York City Board of Education photos.
Archival Sources related to Chinese-oriented Media Collections
- British Library Chinese Propaganda Posters
- UCSD Chinese Cultural Revolution Posters
- E-resources for Chinese Studies
- Greater China Archival Resources
