6 November 2016
My research assistant Alice and I visited the National Archives in College Park Maryland this past week. For three days-it was a working vacation- we scoured three different record groups located in the naval historical section of the archives.
First off, I’ve got to say the staff at the archives is most helpful and friendly. They and the security force may come off harsh at times, but its all done respectfully and for a good reason. Without the somewhat draconian policies and procedures documents could disappear inexplicably. Furthermore, and perhaps worse for future researchers items could be placed out of order. If you’ve done any raw document investigating the order of things can make a big difference between finding the smoking gun, and missing it.
As for our specific research goals, lets just say we learned more from what we didn’t find than from what we did find. Though it is interesting some of the information we did find is circumstantial to building any case, it still was very limited.
Overall it was a very nice trip and we were somewhat successful in my research.
More detail and specifics to follow in the next blog.
Five Sides 2aTriangle 