PREPARE TO BE SURPRISED: How Flexible, Methodical, and Organized Research Practices Lead to Serendipity in the Archives

From time to time, I make a serendipitous discovery in my historical research, finding new “fortuitous byways” like the ones legal historian Michael H. Hoeflich describes in the epigraph above (813). Serendipitous moments in the archives are rare, but, as Hoeflich notes, they are more likely to result when researchers set about their work with “open minds” and a willingness to change their research plans (813). Composition historian David Gold similarly contends that archival scholars need to have a “beginner’s mind” so they may keep themselves “open to accidental discoveries” (43). In this chapter I discuss research practices that can