Category Archives: Reflection

Archive papers Organization, Materials, and Resources, Reflection # 4

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After reading the articles which were really informative, I will say archives are collections of materials and artifacts kept and preserved by organizations like universities or historical societies. Archival materials are often unpublished and are preserved for their research value. In general just like prof Nora Almeida mentioned in todays class, that archives are consist of records that have been selected for permanent or long-term preservation on grounds of their enduring cultural, historical, or evidentiary value. Archival records are normally unpublished and almost always unique, unlike books or magazines for which many identical copies. To find the archive materials we can go to archive.gov where you can find national archives and much more. Archives can hold both published and unpublished materials, and those materials can be in any format. Some examples are manuscripts, letters, photographs, moving image and sound materials, artwork, books, diaries, artifacts, and the digital equivalents of all of these things. Materials in an archives are often unique, specialized, or rare objects, meaning very few of them exist in the world, or they are the only ones of their kind. The Rober Moses paper are really great example to show that archives are really important, because i think archives really help us to reconnect us with our history, culture and values.

Brooklyn’s “Auld Irishtown” Reflection

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Although there was not and is not any Brooklyn neighborhood that was officially named “Irishtown”, we know that in articles like the Whiskey Wars that we previously read that areas like Vinegar Hill, DUMBO and the Brooklyn Navy Yard were referred to Irishtown because of the Irish immigrants that came here in the 19th century.  Eamon Loingsigh was informed about “Irishtown” through his elderly relatives who had family who had lived in those areas and experienced life in these Brooklyn neighborhoods.  I think with word of mouth information given to Eamon Loingsigh based on his family history, this was the base for the research he needed for his book on Irishtown, and he used these historical stories to branch out and dig deeper with secondary sources to find more.

My Reflection on the Loingsigh Reading

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Application of the RECAP criteria to the Loingsigh reading:
RECAP
Mr. Eamon Loingsigh’s article “The power of family lore: uncovering Brooklyn’s “Auld Irishtown”,” is written on the official Brooklyn Daily Eagle’s newspaper website: http://www.brooklyneagle.com/articles/power-family-lore-uncovering-brooklyn%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%9Cauld-irishtown%E2%80%9D-2013-04-08-193600 This makes Mr. Loingsigh article a reliable secondary source, which can be used and referred to in a research project.
Relevance: This information would be relevant to my needs if I were conducting research on Brooklyn’s Irishtown.
– The source helps me research my topic and/or answers my questions.
– The source meets the requirements of my assignment.
Expertise: The author is a direct relative of the primary sources in his article, and the publisher is an official newspaper.
– The author is qualified or an expert who knows about the topic.
– There is information about the author on the web page.
Currency: The information was written on April 8, 2013.
– The source is almost three years old.
– This website does get its information from up-to-date sources.
Accuracy: The source’s information is reliable but may have the potential for some falsification.
– The source states where the information comes from.
– I can verify any of the information by checking other sources.
Purpose: My information source was created for career and a sense of family duty.
– My source was designed to inform, educate, entertain, and/or to make money.
– I do not think that my source was designed to further a political, religious, or institutional cause; but it is biased towards the Irish perspective. Consider the point of view of “Whiskey Wars,” for instance.

I strongly believe that this is a “credible source,” because the author’s article was published in a credible newspaper; however, the information, though acquired from primary source interviews and secondary literature, was not purely taken from historical archives of governmental sources, such as libraries or historical documents. There is no official document claiming that Vinegar Hill was once called or known as “Irish-town.” I would use this source in the context of an unofficial historical research project.

Homework#4: Applying RECAP

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I would say Loingsigh definitely used the RECAP criteria in his research about the Irish community. He surely proved his grandparent’s story to be true and accurate with current and updated information he researched. After reading Loingsigh’s article the first thing that came to my mind was how the Irish was connected to Brooklyn’s Vinegar Hill, the Navy Yard, Brooklyn Heights know as DUMBO and the Whiskey War that begun in 1869. We have also used the RECAP criteria in our research to get to this point of learning about the Irish community that played such a significant part in the history of these famous places in Brooklyn.

Pre-Site Visit Reflection 2

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Since I have already took my very first trip to Vinegar Hill and that anticipation is over, the next thing is what area my focus will be drawn to. We have visited a lot of interesting and great potential places to dig into the history of, yet I’m not all that quite sure about what space I want and I know that soon I have to be sure of what I will be doing my semester project on. I hope to use this next visit as an opportunity to make a decision on what particular area my attention and interest draws to the most. I am looking forward to our site visit tomorrow.

Fourth 100 Word Reflection: RECAP-Loingsigh

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The Loingsigh article is a credible source. He got word of this old town and he didn’t just take his grandparents word for it, he made it his mission to prove that this town actually did exist. The way he went about finding that information was carefully sought out. He didn’t look to collect more oral stories, he went into books and records, and he extracted the information, allowing him to then match up the written words to what was currently present, and proved that this town did exist in the 1900’s. All of this makes the article very reliable.

Reflection #3-“Rabbit Hole”

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Whenever I was given an assignment in high school such as writing a term paper, Wikipedia was always the first of my many sources. However when I entered into college I found that Wikipedia wasn’t exactly as legit as I thought. I found this article interesting because I to have experienced situations such as the one mentioned. I’ve noticed that within a Wikipedia search there are myriads of other searches which are embedded within. A simple Wikipedia search can very easily guide you down a path of information way beyond your search. The Wikipedia “rabbit hole” is like walking down an endless spiral staircase.

Reflection #4: Applying RECAP to Loingsigh Reading.

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When applying the RECAP criteria to Loingsigh’s article “The power of family lore: uncovering Brooklyn’s ‘Auld Irishtown'”, I do think the article can be used as is a credible source.  I also think that it acts as a stepping stone to access additional credible sources. The article is current and is certainly relevant to this class because of our focus on Vinegar Hill. The author does cite his research throughout. He bases his knowledge off of what he has read by other authors who have researched and written about “Irishtown”, Brooklyn. He seems well informed and well researched, and I would use the article as a source during research. I would also use the authors and other sources he cited as sources for my research. I think that the author’s trilogy would be a better source than the article. This article comes across as being a way to advertise the author’s books. It informs the readers of the trilogy, speaks of the author’s inspiration, and gives a brief synopsis of the history. Even though I think the main reason of the article was to promote the author’s trilogy, it was definitely also meant to be an informative piece to educate people about “Irishtown”.