Campus History Research Process

Pick a topic

Explore the “actual” archives

  • Go to the Center for Southwest Research in Zimmerman Library. To get there, enter Zimmerman through the main door, then make a U-turn to the left. Note all the cool archival stuff in the display cases.
  • Proceed to the roundish service kiosk on your right, where you check in with whoever’s there store your bags in the lockers (the desk person will give you a key). You can take whatever you need into the reading room, except food/drink and bags.
  • Go in the Reading Room, say hello to the librarian at the reference desk (on your left), and tell them you’re doing research on your building/place for your digital history class.

Published UNM Campus histories

There is a reference section of UNM history books that you should consult:

  • Van Dorn Hooker, Only in New Mexico is probably the most important and best starting point. It is unfortunately extremely spartan with citations, so it’s hard to track down evidence for his historical claims. Don’t make the same mistake in your essays!
  • William E Davis, Miracle on the Mesa: A History of the University of New Mexico, 1889-2003. This is a matter-of-fact administrative history, so you’ll need to have specific years in mind. It’s focused on presidential administrations—so it doesn’t lend itself to looking up specific spaces—but you should skim relevant bits to see what’s going on around campus.
  • Susan McColeman, A History of the Buildings of the University of New Mexico: 1890-1934 is on reserve at the reference desk; you need to ask for it. It’s really great for the early years, but very limited in its coverage.

  • Dorothy B Hughes, Pueblo on the Mesa: The First Fifty Years at the University of New Mexico is originally from 1939 (and a typewriter), but a worthwhile source if your place is old enough to be included. It’s especially great for general campus info, but not super great as reference work (no index).

  • Skim through the relevant sections of these books (i.e. the parts that correspond to the life of your building) to get a sense of the culture and concerns of the University around the time your building was built or remodeled or whatever.

Archival Research (yay!)

  • Ask the librarian for a manuscript request form.
  • Find a computer, and navigate to the New Mexico Digital Archive
  • Enter the name of your building or place (you need to spell it correctly), and USE QUOTES if it’s multiple words (or you’ll get results with ANY of the words)
  • For the Institutions field, pick “University of New Mexico Center for Southwest Research and Special Collections”
  • Once you click on an item from the search results, note the “Collection Number” near the top of the page and put that on your form.
  • Use Cmd/Ctrl F search for your place-name on the webpage, and note the box or boxes that have archival material.
  • Using that information, fill out the Request Form available at the front desk of the Reading Room and give it to the librarian. It usually takes about 10 minutes to get a box, depending on how busy they are.
  • Have fun rooting through the history of your place! You never know exactly what will be in the boxes or how useful the stuff will will be for your essay, but that’s the thrill of the hunt.
  • You should consult architectural drawings and campus plans, which go on a separate space on the form (but it’s clear what to do), but leave that for later.
  • Take good notes, get good quotes.
  • Take pictures with your phone so that you can examine stuff outside the reading room. There are always details you’ll notice later.
  • USE THE SCANNER in the reading room to create quality digital images for your digital essays.
  • When you need to leave, you can have your box kept out in the reading room for quick access at a later time.
  • If you need to do basic edits to your photo (cropping, rotating, resizing, etc), you can use any software you want. If you aren’t sure what to use, try the free and online editor at https://www.befunky.com/.

Research Tips

  • BUILDINGS CHANGE NAMES. Records documenting its construction and early days may not refer to it by the modern name you know, so make sure you’re searching all relevant names or alternate names. What is now (obviously) Mesa Vista Hall was most commonly known as the 400-man dorm when it was built in 1950.

  • Remember that you are basically never searching the full text of archival documents (as we’ve talked about in the course), which for the most part have no digital existence. Someone has collected this stuff and labeled it, so items that pertain to two buildings may tagged or filed in only one place. Be creative in your searching!

  • When you get your box, poke around at first to get a sense of what’s there. It’s pretty fun just to see the documentary history at your fingertips. BUT, as you start looking through the folders, be systematic! Take note of what you’ve seen, what you haven’t, what’s interesting, what’s not. Think about the story you want to tell!

  • Your essays are pretty short, but you still need to have a sense of the whole history to figure out what to include or focus on, so you can’t just look through enough material to write 600 words. Well, you can, but such laziness will be reflected in your low grade for the assignment.

  • Always be thinking about the story you want to tell! This will help you decide what to focus on.