When I was in college 25 plus years ago, doing research consisted mainly of going to the library, pulling books and journals off the shelf, slogging through reel after reel of microfilm and, if you were lucky, finding a gem or two that was buried deep within a dry dusty tome. While the basics of research haven’t changed, the way in which it is done certainly has.
For example, now instead of sitting in front of a microfilm reader taking notes, there exists a program which scans the copy off the screen and sends it to a computer to be printed. That saves wear and tear on the old wrist. Of course, the work still has to be read, but you can highlight relevant passages now instead of having to write them down. Another innovation includes the laptop computer. My handwriting has been oft compared to the worst chicken scratch. Truthfully, there have been times when I took a note and later couldn’t read it. Having a laptop in front of me makes taking notes so much easier.
For me, though, the biggest change has been wrought by the internet. From the comfort of my home office, I can sit in front of the computer and search libraries across the country to see what hidden gems they might have to offer. Where this hit home to me was in searching for information about Everton Conger’s father, Enoch. Enoch was a Presbyterian missionary and clergyman who settled with his family in the Western Reserve section of Ohio in 1824. Before then, he fought the British during the Battle of Queenston Heights in the War of 1812 as part of the New York militia and was captured during the fight. (Side note, if you want to read a really fascinating account of this battle, see Robert Malcomson’s book “A Very Brilliant Affair”.
What I wanted was some representation of what Enoch preached from the pulpit. A search of the Presbyterian Historical Society (http://www.history.pcusa.org/) turned up nothing. It wasn’t until I was searching for information on Conger’s namesake, a missionary named Everton Judson, that I found a sermon which Enoch preached in the 1840s. It was located in the Huntington Library in California (http://www.huntington.org/LibraryDiv/LibraryHome.html ). A couple of weeks later, and $20 lighter, I had the sermon in my hand. If I hadn’t Googled Everton Judson’s name, I never would have found Enoch’s sermon.
From the National Union Catalog (http://www.loc.gov/coll/nucmc/) to the National Archives (www.archives.gov) it is now possible to conduct exhaustive research without exhausting yourself (or your bank account). These are truly amazing times.
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