Use, Appraisal, and Research: A Case Study of Social History

This article analyzes the use of archives and manuscripts in 214 scholarly articles on social history published between 1981 and 1985. More broadly, it addresses the ongoing debates over the triangle of relationships among appraisal, current use, and historical scholarship. The study's findings show that most social historians continue to rely regularly on archives in their research. Patterns of use vary significantly according to time period, research orientation, and subject. Social historians use collections in older historical societies and collections of personal papers extensively, but rarely draw on state and local public archives. The numerical distribution by time period of the types of series used and their relative importance in articles may help predict future patterns of archival use.