MICHAEL R. HILL, born in 1944, earned Ph.D. degrees in geography (1982) and sociology (1989) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His former teaching posts include: Iowa State University, Albion College, University of Minnesota Duluth, University of Indiana South Bend, Iowa Western Community College, University of Nebraska at Omaha, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and the University of Notre Dame. As the founder and editor of Sociological Origins, he is interested in the history and development of the social science disciplines and the fine arts. He is the author/editor/co-editor of several scholarly books and numerous articles. Hill is a recognized authority on the works of Harriet Martineau and Charlotte Perkins Gilman as well as the history of sociology at the University of Nebraska. Michael is now Associate Director of the Jane Addams Research Center in St. Joseph, Michigan. Recently, he was for five years a docent in the Krasl Art Center and is himself occasionally an active artist. Hill twice won the American Sociological Association (ASA), Section on the History of Sociology (HOS), Distinguished Scholarly Book Award (2002 and 2005). In 2003, Hill was honored with the ASA/HOS Distinguished Scholarly Career Award. He belongs both to the American Sociological Association and the American Association of Geographers, and is a full member of Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society.

Introduction
Archival Sedimentation
Structure, Control, and Technology
Getting Started
`Targets¿ and `Tool Kits¿
Orientation Interviews
Confronting the `Black Box¿ Problem
Life in the Reading Room
Strategies for Organizing Archival Data
Methodological Complexities
Publication, Citations, and Permissions
Non-Archival Data Sources

Historical and biographical work is becoming a more common type of qualitative research done by social scientists and usually requires the extensive use of formal archives housed in universities, governments, museums and other institutions. This practical and concise book provides an introduction for the novice on conducting archival research and covers such topics as contacting and preparing to work in archives, the protocol of using archives, and ways of organizing and referencing the useful data from the archive.