Research Guides: PPOL-G 704 Research Methods II: Conducting Archival Research: Resources

Archival Materials

University Archives and Special Collections at UMass Boston
Finding Aids
Digital Collections
Blog

Articles and Book Chapters

Baum, J.A.C. (Ed.) 2002. The Blackwell Companion to Organizations. Chapter 35, “Archival Research Methods”, p. 805 – 828. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishers, Ltd. ISBN: 978-0631216957.

Burgoon, B., Fine, J., Jacoby, W. and D. Tichenor. 2010. Immigration and the Transformation of American Unionism. The International Migration Review 44(4): 933 – 973. doi: 10.1111/j.1747-7379.2010.00831.x.

“Collecting and Using Archival Data.” Community Tool Box, University of Kansas, https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-ofcontents/evaluate/evaluate-communityinterventions/archival-data/main.

Iveson, K. 2014. Building a City For ‘The People’: The Politics of Alliance‐Building in the Sydney Green Ban Movement. Antipode 46(4): 992 – 1013. doi: 10.1111/anti.12047.

Lee, A. “How (and How Not) to Use Archival Sources in Political Science”. Working paper. Web: http://www.rochester.edu/college/faculty/alexander_lee/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/archives.pdf.

Schmidt, L. 2016. “Using Archives: A Guide to Effective Research.” Society of American Archivists. Web: https://www2.archivists.org/usingarchives.

Public Policy Databases

Nexis Uni (formerly LexisNexis)
Nexis Uni™ features more than 15,000 news, business and legal sources from LexisNexis ®—including U.S. Supreme Court decisions dating back to 1790—with an intuitive interface that offers quick discovery across all content types, personalization features such as Alerts and saved searches and a collaborative workspace with shared folders and annotated documents.
PolicyMap
Upon first login, users will be presented with a registration form.

PolicyMap is a US national data and GIS mapping tool and analytics platform with varied applications. PolicyMap provides access to thousands of data indicators that can be analyzed as layers, as well as data points, on interactive maps. PolicyMap’s data indicators are related to demographics, neighborhood conditions, real estate markets, federal program-eligible areas, money and income, lending activity, jobs and economy, education, health, and more. Data can be viewed on a census block or census tract level in many cases, city, county, zip, state, US, as well as by congressional district, school district, state house and state senate districts.
SAGE Research Methods
SAGE Research Methods is a research methods tool created to help researchers, faculty and students with their research projects. SAGE Research Methods links over 100,000 pages of SAGE’s renowned book, journal and reference content with truly advanced search and discovery tools. Researchers can explore methods concepts to help them design research projects, understand particular methods or identify a new method, conduct their research, and write up their findings. Since SAGE Research Methods focuses on methodology rather than disciplines, it can be used across the social sciences, health sciences, and more.

Our SAGE Research Methods access only covers SAGE Research Methods Books & Reference (Core), Cases Part 1, and Datasets Part 1. After you run a search, select the 'Content available to me' option to filter for results with full access.
Social Explorer
Social Explorer is an online research tool that provides access to historical census data and demographic information. It creates intuitive maps and reports to help users visually analyze and understand demography and social change throughout history. The site currently includes the entire US Census history from 1790 to 2021, all annual updates from the American Community Survey, and the Religious Congregations and Membership Study from 1980 to 2010. Users can customize, save, print, and email maps and reports and export them to a variety of programs for further analysis and presentation.
ProQuest Central
ProQuest Central is a comprehensive multidisciplinary research database. It provides access to databases across all major subject areas, including business, health and medical, social sciences, arts and humanities, education, science and technology, and religion. The collection includes thousands of full-text scholarly journals, newspapers, magazines, dissertations, working papers, and market reports all together in one platform.

Search and browse all of the Healey Library's public policy databases.

Newspapers

Boston Globe (current) 1980-present
Text-only articles. No images.
Full text coverage of the newspaper.
Center for Research Libraries (CRL)
CRL holds approximately five million newspapers, journals, dissertations, archives, government publications, and other traditional and digital resources for research and teaching.
New York Times 1985-present (Gale)
Text-only articles. No images.
The full text of the New York Times (print newspaper, national edition) from 1985 to the present
Only articles that appear in the print newspaper will be available. Articles printed only on the nytimes.com site will not be available. For those articles, please use visit the News and Newspaper Search from Proquest or visit nytimes.com (after creating an account via accessnyt.com first)
New York Times (1851 - 2021) (Proquest)
Text-only articles. No images.
The New York Times offers full page and article images with searchable full text back to the first issue in 1851. It does not include the current years three years. The collection includes digital reproductions providing access to every page from every available issue.
Printing: Use Print to fit option
Wall Street Journal (1984 - Present)
Text-only articles. No images.
Search Wall Street Journal articles from 1984 -present.

Search and browse all of the Healey Library's newspaper databases.

Boston Public Library: Newspapers
The Boston Public Library provides access to historic newspapers online and in person.