UC San Diego

Abstract This paper explores the connections between archival research and teaching as an adjunct faculty member and mother. The form of the essay is an example of the “I-Search paper,” a first-person account of the research process. In I-Search papers, authors start with the “search story,” where they explain their initial research questions, then describe their “search results” in detail, including the primary sources they found, and end with a reflection on the research process. This essay is two I-Search papers in one—bringing together the experience of reading about students’ historical research experiences with the author's own version of a research story. The essay is about teaching and research and their intersections, and especially what teaching has taught the author about research. The account of the individual research experience touches on the archival experiences of frustration and boredom, and the tension between wanting to find something in the archives and coming away with something else, and ends with a reflection on how our personal circumstances can impact our research.