Course Description
This course addresses how to conduct archival research in political science, emphasizing relevant methods and best practices. The course will take both a theoretical and empirical approach allowing students to learn how and why this type of research is important in the discipline, the theoretical foundations to understand how to use archival data, the pitfalls to avoid in constructing archival research, and the practicality of using archives and archival sources. Students will develop a general toolkit of strategies and concepts for engaging in archival research, using this toolkit to develop a research paper based on actual archival research they will conduct themselves.
The best way to learn any research method is through practice. This class will utilize a hands-on approach to archival research by having you dig through actual archives. From examining the finding aids to digging through file boxes, students will choose a topic of interest and use the political archives housed in the Smathers Libraries Special Collections (Library East) to learn through experience. The class will benefit from UF Libraries having multiple collections from various Florida politicians, see below for a list of the archives available that the class will use. Students will set-up their own research project, conduct archival research, interpret their findings and use the data to construct a brief research paper.
Archives and Finding Aids
- Lawton Chiles Collection (Florida House and Senate, and Governor) http://www.library.ufl.edu/spec/pkyonge/chiles.htm
- Charles E. Bennett Collection (House of Representatives) http://www.library.ufl.edu/spec/pkyonge/Bennettfull.htm
- Robert “Bob” Graham Collection (Florida House and Senate, Governor, US Senate) http://www.library.ufl.edu/spec/pkyonge/graham.htm
- Connie Mack III Collection (House of Representatives and US Senate) http://www.library.ufl.edu/spec/pkyonge/mack.htm
- Smathers Libraries Historical Newspapers Database (scroll down to historical newspapers) http://guides.uflib.ufl.edu/az.php?a=h
Carl Van Ness, Historian and Archivist Extraordinaire: carvann@uflib.ufl.edu 352-273-2764
Download the SYLLABUS here
POS4931: Archival Research Methods in Political Science – Spring 2019
Tuesday – Period 5-6 (11:45am – 1:40pm)
Thursday – Period 6 (12:50 – 1:40pm)
Room: FLG 260
Office Hours: Monday, Noon – 2pm
Thursday, 9 – 11 am
By Appointment as Needed
Office: 224 Pugh Hall (Bob Graham Center)