I'm a graduate student in the MLIS program at University of Kenkucky, and I have a research project requiring a research due Very soon.  The title of the paper is "A tale of Three Collections: A Comparative Approach to Research."  I've been working on 3 manuscript collection:

 

The first contains a small portion of the legal transactions of a prominent 18th century Kentucky attorney.

The second contains the correspondence of an obscure 19th century family group.

The third collection contains an exchange of letters between Cassius M. Clay (1810-1903) and Minnie Louise Ellis, a very young lady that Clay was courting by mail when he was about 75 years old.  This collection also contains correspondence between Minnie and her family members.

 

The purpose of the research paper is not to discuss the collections, but the methods of research used in the archival process.  What I need are about 10 sources that I can use as citations for the proper documentation of those methods.  All that I've been able to come up with are books on Historical or Genealogical research, not the archival research methods that I've employed.  Much of my searching has been through Kentucky biographical sources, and online searches for some of the very obsure individuals involved in my collections.  It seems I have had either a flood of biographical information or an absolute desert!  Some of these people do not exist, except in the archival boxes containing their correspondence.

 

Any help that can be provided will leave me eternally grateful. 

 

Laurie Calvitti