Conducting Research

Here are some texts and online resources that may help you prepare the skills needed for archival research.

Paleography, Codicology, and Diplomatics:

Paleography is the study of handwriting, codicology is the study of the physical manuscript, and diplomatics is the study of the protocols and forms of documents.

• Latham, R.E. Medieval Latin Word-list from British and Irish Sources. New York: Oxford U.P., 1980.
• a critically important text for working in medieval British documents in Latin

• Pelzer, Auguste. Abreviations latines medievales : supplement au Dizionario di abbreviature latine ed italiane de Adriano Cappelli. Bruxelles: Editions Nauwelaerts, 1982.
• an essential text if you are working with Latin sources, this book lists common abbreviations and their expansions

• Paleography and Codicology: Introductory Bibliography http://www.georgetown.edu/labyrinth/subjects/mss/paleobib.html
• a thorough bibliography by Martin Irvine (Co-creator of The Labyrinth: Resources for Medieval Studies http://labyrinth.georgetown.edu/)

• Medieval Writing: History, Heritage and Data Source http://medievalwriting.50megs.com/
• “An introduction to the history of medieval writing, including the origins of our written culture, paleography and the history of scripts, and the nature of literacy and the written word in the middle ages.” Contains paleography exercises, a brief introduction to manuscript form, and a bibliography

• http://paleo.anglo-norman.org/palindex.html
• an introduction to practical paleography designed by Dave Postles, Centre for English Local History, University of Leicester, and on behalf of the West Sussex Record Office

• Manuscript Studies: Medieval and Early Modern http://www.ualberta.ca/~sreimer/ms-course.htm
• an online introductory course to manuscript studies by the UofA’s Stephen Reimer. It includes sections on Diplomatics, Codicology, and Paleography, as well as an extensive Bibliography

Dating Systems:

• C.R. Cheney, ed. Handbook of Dates for Students of British History. Revised by Michael Jones. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2000.
• the standard text for interpreting dates in historical documents

• Some Notes On Medieval English Genealogy: Chronology and Dating http://www.medievalgenealogy.org.uk/guide/chron.shtml
• a good introduction to issues around dating medieval documents, this site includes a calendar of moveable feasts and regnal years as well as links to sites that give dates for religious festivals and chronological lists of office-holders

Managing Data:

Many introductions to historical and genealogical research discuss card file systems for managing data when researching in archives. If you're interested in exploring databases, the following book in our library is a good place to start.

• Harvey, Charles, and Jon Press. Databases in Historical Research: Theory, Methods, and Applications. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1996.
• an introduction to using spreadsheets and databases (earlier versions of Microsoft Excell and Access in particular) for managing historical data

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