Visiting archives can often be an exploration in “negative research.” This is a term that a colleague once proposed to me after a day roaming through municipal archives in Delft, the Netherlands. I had returned to my home base in Leiden, where we met at a café. He asked what I had accomplished that day; it was not much. I had gone to Delft to see a file that a merchant from the city had written after a visit to the Sumatran polity of Siak in the late eighteenth century. The results were quite unimpressive. The file consisted of two handwritten pages, which contained no startling insight or revelations. As that was the only object I sought, I thanked the archivist for her help and then walked out into a grey, late autumn day in the Netherlands. I spent the remainder of my time in Delft wandering the streets and looking at examples of the blue earthenware that made city famous before heading back to Leiden. Not much was accomplished, but I had assured myself that no overlooked file, one that held a detailed account of a society on the other side of the world several centuries ago, existed. It was “negative research,” as my Dutch friend laughed, because I had proven that it did not exist. Such days are more common than imagined for historians in the archives.

Whenever historians visit archives they are prepared with a list of files and documents they are interested in examining. These papers are often thick files containing a vast array of information. They exist in scattered notes, annotations in the columns, and eyewitness reports of particular events. Piecing them together is part of the craft of history, in which we evaluate events and trends in the past to gain a better understanding into a society in the past as well as ourselves. Quite frequently, however, the file we request turns out to be empty or a short note on an unrelated topic. The historian will sigh and move on to the next file, if one is on his list to examine. Much of our research involves these unwanted files. At times these irrelevant issues – if pursued – may lead you further down a rabbit hole where you discover new aspects about your topic. At other times, it is “negative research.” Whether you go down that rabbit hole, or decide to wander around Delft and start over the next day, is up to you.

Special thanks to Professor Tim Barnard for sharing his valuable experience.