Throughout the semester and over a span of a couple months, not only have experienced individual growth as a student researcher but was also able to learn with my Latino Studies class. I believe we have built a solid foundation for the iPresente! WordPress website with both, our individual and group research. I have been amazed time and time again discovering the interesting and fascinating histories of Latinx alumni hidden in archive boxes and unexplored website pages. As a class, we have decided to best organize the information of U-M Alumni based on time periods and specific themes, for example the 1960s and athletes. We have found that searching for a specific person yields better results through the U.S. Census, the Bentley Historical Library, the Alumni Necrology Files, and even Google itself, among other resources.
With syllabus guidance, we have found abundant information through extensive research from the late 19th, early 20th century time period that takes us back to the first Latinx student at the University of Michigan, José Celso Barbosa and U-M Latinx alumni, J.T. Canales. The archival research we have primarily focused on as individuals have been researching the members of the Club Latinoamericano and the Cosmopolitan Club in the early 1900s. Researching such individuals has reshaped my understanding of the University of Michigan because I did not know that recruitment of international students from Latinoamerica was emphasized greatly back then. One would think with such a low percentage of Latinx students on campus now, there would be some sort of implementation to recruit international students and first or second generation Latinx students to the university. Through the Latinx alumni panel held earlier in the semester, I concluded that Latinx students on campus still deal with the same struggles Latinx alumni once faced as minority students in a predominantly white institution. Time and time again, I have been surprised to find little to no information on Latinx individuals whom deserve recognition for their achievements. Apparently back then and even now, Latinx/Hispanic alumni and students are not important enough to mention at Bicentennial events or even in university historical content. Historically, I can conclude the assumption that Latina/os at Michigan before 1965 were of low numbers and mostly international students. La Sociedad Hispánica is a prime example of a club that did not primarily focus on cultural aspects of a student but their language, and in this case, it was Spanish. Hispanic students, mostly foreign, had this club in place before the 1960s. In addition to this club, both Club Latinoamericano and the Cosmopolitan Club served as communities for Latinx students at the University of Michigan.
I think archival research differs from the research I have previously done because of the amount of effort you do outside of a computer. It is definitely more extensive and interesting because it is satisfying to unravel the information you have been looking for. Not only that, but you are able to find out information you were not looking for, many surprising facts that you did not think you would find. Archival research takes time and patience to look through piles of papers, cards, mail, photographs, and newspaper clippings. For my first time at an archival library, I was amazed at how many records there were and the content quality of said records. My past research consisted of developing, modifying, and updating a website that includes policies and information relevant to a certain target audience. I was used to gathering all my data and information through online sources and websites. Now, I have discovered that I am a type of researcher that analyzes and questions everything, which leads to other information and more questions I have about a certain topic. The nature of history does not only mean “important” people, events, or places, it means looking at the big picture. One can find archival research fascinating by looking at the details and life of a person including where they lived, what they did, whom they interacted with, and what they ended up doing. An insight into my thoughts as a student researcher have been broadened, not only on how to research but how to collaborate with my classmates to approach the research in a different perspective and fit the missing pieces of a lost Latinx history puzzle.