So, I wanted to start this post asking a question that, I feel, is pretty important to any sort of learning: why is it that we as people and, if relevant, as research historians continue asking questions and yearning for more knowledge? Why is it that we have a constant flow of thoughts where we eventually break down and start googling to answer these random inquiries? I will be the first to admit that the majority of my googling time revolves around finding driving directions or figuring out how to fix something that I have managed to break but we are able to learn so much more from this tool. We not only have the ability to see what baby pigeons actually look like (has anyone seriously ever seen one?) but we also have a plethora of data at our fingertips for our minds wildest thoughts. So many of our basic inquiries can be answered with a few meager clicks of a mouse but we will continue to ask more difficult questions and seek out the answers that often times require more then google. In my eyes this is where the fun all begins.
For this project, like many others I expect, research began on the internet looking up archives and calling around to see what I might be able to find. Coincidently, I was on one of my little wondering adventures and ended up down by the Shoreline. I got to talking to a few of the people who maintain the Hayward Regional Shoreline and they directed me to dig into the archives of the Hayward Area Historical Society (HAHS) and also suggesting that I contact the Hayward Shoreline Interpretive Center because of their programs on the Oliver Salt Trail. After scheduling and getting in to see what HAHS had I have determined that the people who work there are pretty awesome and probably underpaid for all of the amazing work they do; I could not recommend them enough! With this little bit of digging we were able to find essential building blocks to my whole project! This is why I completely love the research process! You can look and sometimes you just hit a goldmine and you feel so accomplished with what you've found--then the thinking/writing process starts and you feel completely screwed or like you're at square one once again. Luckily I am still in the research/honeymoon time where everything is still fun and exciting!
In researching I have found that focusing my time on one salt company of the Mt. Eden area would probably be sufficient for this quarter long project. I chose to focus on the Oliver family's production mainly because they seem to have been dominant within the industry of the area and because I like the story of their beginning and all their random transformations through time. I love Andrew August (Ohleson) Oliver was able to travel and do so much during his lifetime from becoming a young cabin boy from a small Swedish town at the age of 18 to buying up his own land and creating a successful business. Within the next few weeks I will be going into the details of Andrew Oliver and the history of his company so stay tuned!
Photograph courtesy of HAHS: Construction of the Oliver Salt Mill
I love the research process too. I get so excited when I find something new, out of the scope of the main narrative of the subject. I also find I love local history best because things we find may never have been discussed before. Sometimes I even get embarrassed when reading journals or diaries, feeling like I am intruding where I should not be, in the thoughts and dreams of people from generations past.
ReplyDeleteLee~
My post this week was about the love of research too. There is a weird kind of high when you're absorbed in a project and you find that "goldmine". Suddenly, your thesis come into focus, all your doubts about the project slip away and you feel anything is possible. I always end up being wound up all day long when that happens and talk my wife’s ear off about crap she really doesn’t care about.
ReplyDeleteThough, my mind works in a way where I imminently start thinking about the writing process, a nice way to frame a fact or connect the facts to my thesis. And that works against me sometimes in that I'll make up my mind too early about what the narrative I wish to tell is, rather than letting the story fully tell itself. Also my concentration sucks when I'm trying to read something, but my mind keeps wandering to what I'm going to write.
I like your point about googling facts too. I kind of miss the days when we had to actually look things up. If you wanted to know something you had to dig deeper than in your pocket for your phone. What’s the fun in being an expert on something, be it history or Star Trek trivia, if all the information is at our figure tips already? Sure, not a lot of people are impressed anyway that I can give the plot of every episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation based solely on the name of the episode, but it’s even less impressive with the IMDb iPhone app around.