Beyond the Archives: Research as a Lived Process

Introduction: The Role of Serendipity, Family Connections, and Cultural Memory in Historical Research

1 Introduction The Role of Serendipity, Family Connections, and Cultural Memory in Historical Research Gesa E. Kirsch and Liz Rohan In her memoir French Lessons, Duke professor Alice Kaplan writes that literary critic and Yale professor Paul de Man “would have been a better teacher if he had given more of his game away” because she believes “the root of [his] intellectual questions was his own experience and pain” (172, 173). A former student of his at Yale, Kaplan points out that de Man’s interest in nationalism and his prized method of text interpretation, deconstruction, can be traced to his experience living in German-occupied Belgium and his authorship of fascist, pro-Nazi texts. Although Kaplan had been writing her dissertation about fascism when a student with him, de Man maintained the illusion that his scholarly projects were disinterested, not, as she would discover upon his death, arguably linked to his intriguing, checkered, and likely tortured past. In French Lessons, Kaplan gives her game away by describing how the memory of her lawyer father, a prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials who died when Kaplan was eight, led Kaplan to French, France itself, and eventually to academe, where she is a successful scholar. Kaplan’s experience suggests, then, that how a researcher chooses a subject is a subject unto itself. The occasion for putting together this collection has illustrated for us the many more stories like Kaplan’s and the value of researchers “giving their game away.” Once we invited contributions on the process of finding and sustaining a research project, we learned about the connections woven through so many of our scholarly and personal lives that remain largely unarticulated. The essays in this collection demonstrate how virtual, historical, and lived experiences intersect, particularly as researchers extract meaning from sources in locations most associated with isolation and loneliness—the archives. They show that research does not just take place in the library archives but also when researchers pursue supplementary information and additional perspec- Gesa E. Kirsch and Liz Rohan 2 tives about their data from existing people and places. The focus of many of the essays in the book is on archival and historical research, but all tell tales of fascinating discoveries, unexpected leads, and early hunches leading to a scholarly project. Beyond the Archives illustrates the range of research methods and strategies available to scholars, such as using space and location as a way to understand the sites where a historical subject lived; using oral histories and interviews with local informants or relatives to better understand the actors involved in shaping the politics, culture, and history of the times; and being attentive to unexpected leads or chance encounters that can enrich a research project as well as change its direction and scope. Second, this collection enriches our notion of what constitutes an archive. Contributors use materials from regional and local sources, family records and artifacts, even FBI and other government documents. By doing so, they highlight how using these less frequently consulted resources can enrich our understanding of history, culture, and rhetoric. Finally, we see this book contributing to a sense of excitement, discovery, and inspiration in doing research, a facet of research that we consider crucial to sustaining the long-term interest and passion of scholars. This, in turn, is necessary to produce the most thorough, complete, and engaged scholarly work. The collection on the whole addresses what inspires our work, what attracts us to our research subjects, how they attract us, and the role of serendipity, place, and cultural memory in making knowledge. Most contributors are scholars in the field of composition and rhetoric, but others work in fields like philosophy, Holocaust studies, creative writing, theater studies, political science, and freelance journalism. Overall, writers in this volume unpack their thinking in process and help readers see how they have mined their lives for meaningful patterns when shaping analysis and casting impressions of their research subjects. Thus, these writers indeed teach, as Kaplan suggests, by making the research process more transparent by describing it. Most important, they show why anyone would embark on research in the first place. For these writers, research is a meaningful collection process that has helped them better understand their own historically situated experience. It can even become an identity-forming, life-changing activity. Therefore, this book can be a guide for composition and rhetoric students who are beginning archival work and may also bring depth and comprehension for seasoned scholars in the field...