Here’s one I prepared earlier for a
student going to the BNCF. Brief, but it should do. Make sure you get the
biggest stamp you can find. If they do a wax seal at Edinburgh tanto meglio
Phil
Egregia direttrice,
Con la presente confermo che XXXXXXXX è una dottoranda
presso il dipartimento d’italianistica di questa università. Per le sue
ricerche avrebbe bisogno di consultare giornali, libri e riviste italiani dei
primi anni del novecento. La prego di volere fornirle, nei limiti del
possibile, l’assistenza di cui avrebbe bisogno nel corso delle sue ricerche
presso la XXXX
From:
Scholarly discussions in any field of Italian studies
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Sarah Blanche
Sent: 16 May 2011 11:38
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [I-S] working in
Italian archives
I completely agree with Deanna Shemek on the benefits of an online
guide for users of Italian archives.
On this subject, can anyone offer advice to the list on the best
wording of a formal letter of introduction in Italian for postgraduate students
visiting archives for the first time?
Best wishes,
Sarah Cockram
Dr Sarah D P Cockram
School of History, Classics and Archaeology
University of Edinburgh
Room 1.22, Doorway 4
Teviot Place
EH8 9AG, UK
[log in to unmask]
Date: Fri, 13 May 2011 16:01:48
+0200
From: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [I-S] working in Italian archives
To: [log in to unmask]
italian-studies: Scholarly discussions in any field of Italian studies I suppose
I cheated. I bought Robert Davidsohn's many volumed Storia di Firenze, shipping
them back and forth across the Atlantic, and
found every reference to archival documents in the ASF he made was true and one
could re-find them. Dante scholars ought to use him as he is magnificent on
medieval Florence.
It is a thrill to hold documents that speak of being signed to the ringing of
the bells of Santa Reparata or San Lorenzo
with all the citizenry gathered around, speech acts. In war time on
battlefields, instead of peace treaties, people would be summoned to the
beating of drums. I fell in love with the notarial signs. And also how
international they are. Dovetailing with documents in the Genova archives
(badly damaged by a British bomb you have to walk past still sticking out of a
wall), and where the document in question I sought had a great wine stain
spilled across it. Dealing with documents in Montpellier, in Barcelona, in
Westminster Abbey, learning of others, now lost, in Naples and Constantinople,
of this network of Guelf Italians abroad in exile, arranging loans to support
the Popes' wars at the same they waged paper wars, writing political tenzoni,
collecting Provencal lyrics. I found archives gave a full-blooded dimension to
literary texts that no one taught me to look for with library work. And I often
found literary texts lost in archives where one least expected them. It
doesn't seem to matter what period or figure one works with, the skills being
transferable between centuries and between states.
Julia Bolton Holloway, Florence
On Fri, May 13, 2011 at 3:02 PM, Filippo Sabetti, Prof.
<[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
italian-studies: Scholarly discussions in any field of
Italian studies
Good morning from Montreal.
I am following with
particular interest this discussion., As a political scientist who often
has had to do archival research, I would love to know more about the practical
experience of others far more knowledgeable than I am.
It took more than a week
for me to get a sense of how to read the archival catalogues and what to look
for in the State Archives in Palermo (with
archives in different locations), Caltanissetta,
Potenza and Rome. It was much easier to do research
in the Pretura Archives and Local Library archives as these had better
catalogues and were more easily accessible.
I learned also from the
way others had used the same sources, just by seeing how they cited them in
their published work. I decided to begin there and not before long I developed
a good sense of how and what to look for in other fondi and sources.
One practical issue
immediately came up: how to take notes. In my first experience I used 5by8 note
cards, and copied everything by hand, including the source at the top of
each card. Nowadays, I guess it is much easier with a lap top…
A story is told among
archivists in Palermo that when Denis Mack Smith
started his two-volume project on Sicily, he
visited l’Archivio di Stato in Palermo.
Took a good look around and never visited it again. I guess he did not need to
spend time in archives to write a history of Sicily. He had accumulated enough from his
previous work.
Filippo.Sabetti
Political Science
McGill University
From:
Scholarly discussions in any field of Italian studies [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Emily Michelson
Sent: Friday, May 13, 2011 8:06 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [I-S] working in
Italian archives
When I was working on
my doctorate, students returning from the archives were asked to write a report
on their experience as a guide for other students. The results were compiled
into a big book that sat in the secretary's office. The initiative was
short-lived and erratic, but very useful for what it was. So I'd like to second
Deanna Shemek's suggestion of a collaborative practical guide for Italian
archives, and add that perhaps it can include a wiki section on specific
archives and libraries; it could thus be easily updated with rapidly-changing
information such as renovations, policy changes, and special closures. I will always
remember being excoriated for requesting a book from a room that was under
renovation, even though the sign explaining the prohibition had been moved out
of sight.
Dr. Emily Michelson
Reformation Studies Institute
Lecturer in History
University of St Andrews
71 South St.
St Andrews, KY16 9QW Scotland
+44 (0) 1334 462881 phone
+44 (0) 1334 463334 fax
[log in to unmask]
italian-studies:
Scholarly discussions in any field of Italian studies
Dear Colleagues,
The responses in this
string have been most interesting. It does seem, however, that Michelle
Rioux's question has evidenced a need for a pragmatic guide for users of
Italian archives. Something more than an "Italian Archives for
Dummies" but less than a three-tome index of the archives of Italy. It's
rather sad that for such an important dimension of research there is no basic
"How To" book. How to get started, what to expect in terms of
restrictions, how to begin parsing an archive, typical holdings of state
archives in Italy, how to organize your time in an archive, what range of
assistance may be available from archival personnel , contrasts to expect
between large and small archives, standard archival etiquette, tricks of the
trade, etc. This would be a great collaborative project for archival
researchers to produce, perhaps online.
On May 11, 2011, at
11:46 AM, Julia Bolton Holloway wrote:
italian-studies: Scholarly discussions in any field of Italian
studies For access to Italian libraries and archives you need a letter from
your Chancellor or similar officer of your university and your passport. You'll
find Chancellors rather like writing such documents and affixing gold seals,
etc.. Make photocopies of it, keeping the original, to give to the libraries
and archives. Libraries and archives tend to open at eight in the morning, and
then go moribund in the afternoons. You can find their hours on the web and
thus plot your movements around these.Be ready to divorce yourself from
everything except pencils, a pen, paper, computer, the other objects being
placed in a locker. There have been deep funding cuts so staff will be
over-extended with work. But libraries and archives in Italy are
magnificent. What period are you working in? Adriano Capelli, Hoepli, is a
great help with paleography, etc.
On Wed, May 11, 2011
at 6:18 PM, Michelle rioux <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
italian-studies:
Scholarly discussions in any field of Italian studies
Hello--
I am wondering: could anyone recommend a good book or other resource--in either
English or Italian--that serves as an introduction to working in
Italian libraries and archives? Does something like this exist? (I am a
graduate student whose experience in this is limited so far.) I realise that
one gets more savvy with experience, and that much learning like this has
to take a trial-and-error format. However, a general overview would be
useful, in addition to what can be gleaned from individual institutions' websites.
I am particularly interested in Venice--the
Archivio di Stato and the Correr library.
Tante grazie,
Michelle
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Julia Bolton Holloway, Mediatheca 'Fioretta Mazzei', 'English' Cemetery,
Piazzale Donatello, 38,
I-50132 Firenze, Italy
http://www.umilta.net
http://www.florin.ms http://www.ringofgold.eu
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Professor, Italian
and Comparative Literature
Mail: Cowell College
Academic Service
Center
University of California, Santa Cruz
1156 High Street, Santa Cruz
CA 95064
Tel. 831/459-2609
(messages)
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Piazzale Donatello, 38,
I-50132 Firenze, Italy
http://www.umilta.net
http://www.florin.ms http://www.ringofgold.eu
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