Historical & Archival Research Flashcards

Which type of state-level archive is the best starting point for researching 19th-century institutional records such as asylums, poorhouses, or orphanages?

Answer: State archives and records administration offices

State archives and records administration offices hold institutional records for facilities such as asylums, poorhouses, and orphanages, which are commonly associated with sites reporting paranormal activity.

A paranormal investigator wants to research deaths that occurred in a specific county during the 1880s. Which record type would provide the most comprehensive mortality data?

Answer: County death registers or vital statistics records

County death registers and vital statistics records systematically document deaths including names, dates, causes, and locations, providing comprehensive mortality data for a region.

What does 'provenance' mean in the context of evaluating a historical document for a paranormal investigation?

Answer: The documented history of a document's origin, custody, and chain of ownership

Provenance refers to the documented history of a document's origin and custody, which helps researchers assess its authenticity and reliability as historical evidence.

An investigator is researching a former hotel with reports of a 'Lady in White' apparition. Which combination of records would best reconstruct the hotel's guest and staff history?

Answer: Hotel registers, city directory listings, and local obituaries

Hotel registers record guests and staff, city directories list residents and businesses by year, and local obituaries document deaths, together providing a rich picture of who lived and died at the location.

Why is it important for a CPI to note the 'record creation date' versus the 'event date' when analyzing historical documents?

Answer: A document created long after an event may reflect memory errors, embellishment, or altered facts compared to contemporary accounts

Documents created long after an event may reflect memory errors, cultural embellishment, or altered narratives, making contemporary records generally more reliable than retrospective ones.

Which oral history collection technique helps a CPI most effectively capture community knowledge about long-standing paranormal legends associated with a site?

Answer: Conducting recorded semi-structured interviews with longtime community members and local historians

Semi-structured recorded interviews with longtime community members and local historians allow investigators to capture nuanced oral traditions, generational knowledge, and contextual detail not found in written records.

A CPI discovers that a reportedly haunted property was once listed as a 'Freedmen's Bureau station' after the Civil War. Why is this historically significant for the investigation?

Answer: It indicates the site was used to assist formerly enslaved people, a context that may include trauma, violence, or tragedy relevant to reported activity

Freedmen's Bureau stations served formerly enslaved people during a period of significant social trauma and violence, providing historical context that investigators may correlate with reported paranormal phenomena.