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Old 10-31-2009, 07:00 PM   #1189
DanaC
We have to go back, Kate!
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Yorkshire
Posts: 25,964
@ Sundae: yeah, sorry bout that hon. Though I booked hotel room etc earlier in the month, I didn't really prepare for the trip til last minute. Also, I only had three nights booked, which meant only two and a half days at the archives. I knew I had to maximise my time and that meant early nights and early starts. I had work to do in the evenings (took my laptop), though as it turned out i was so damn tired I barely got any of that done. I didn't really know what to expect when I got there. I needed to do this one by myself.

Had a really stressful first day in the archives, realising how under-prepared I was, and how completely I'd misunderstood the cataloging system. Ended up going back to my hotel stressed, dog-tired and feeling very down. I knew at that point that I had not got as much as I should have from the one day of extended opening hours (10-7) and that the second full day was only 10-5 and after that at best I'd get two hours on the Thursday before going off for my train.

Having spent nigh on £400 on hotels, food and travel, plus the cost of a digital camera, I was facing a possibility that I'd come back without anything useful for my thesis. Quite apart from the money spent, the idea that my thesis idea simply wouldn't fly was worrying the fuck out of me.

Next morning I ended up booking in for another night at the hotel to buy myself a full Thursday (9-7) having figured out some of what I needed to look at. Still wasn't sure if it would be useful mind. So I went in on the Wednesday feeling slightly less panicked about the timescales, and that gave me a little room to follow a trail or two. Which I was then able to hit with a vengeance on the Thursday and on Friday morning. I was exhausted by the end of every session.

Thankfully on the Wednesday I found a couple of oblique references to some stuff that may be useful as well as, during my lunchbreak whilst my camera battery was recharging, some directly useful stuff in secondary sources which gave me a clear idea of a set of records to copy on Thursday and Friday. Really wish i'd taken more notice of those references when I'd read that article first time around! I knew I was looking for the WO 71 records...I just didn't realise til I got there what a vast fucking category that was!

I had guessed prior to going, and in fact was right, that I would not be good company lol. At least until i figured out what I was doing. Once I figured that out, it was a slog to get as many records photographed as I could in a very short space of time.

Next time I go, I will have a much clearer idea of what i am doing and will be working from a more defined research plan. This will hopefully mean less time wasted going off on fruitless tangents (though two of the tangents were in the end useful). I will therefore, hopefully, find it less stressful and exhausting:P and we should definitely meet up!

If you're up for it, I could seriously use some help next time. Couldn't have coped with help this time as I didn't know quite what I was looking for and it's hard to articulate when you are swimming blind. But with a proper research plan and the records pre-determined and pre-ordered a second set of eyes (and digital camera if you have one) would be invaluable. Though....you may find just taking hundreds of photographs a little wearing and dull :P From time to time whilst taking photos you do come across some funny/quirky/interesting little snippets of text.

How far away from Kew are you btw? I kind of assumed Aylesbury was quite a way off. But I realised during the trip that my understanding of Southern geography is woeful.

Sorry, this turned into an essay...

[eta] oh, guess what...when i went into the archives on the Thursday, who shold I bump into but my supervisor! He was down there doing research for a presentation he's giving in a few weeks lol. That was nice. Took a break at thge same time and grabbed a coffee together. Fortunately I had by that time found some useful records. Thank God I hadn;t bumped into him on the Tuesday lol. I'd have just been a quivering heap of panic and stress.
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There's only so much punishment a man can take in pursuit of punani. - Sundae
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Last edited by DanaC; 10-31-2009 at 07:06 PM.
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