One of the coolest resources available to everyone in the US is public archive and research services. While I was always tangentially aware of their existence (the Library of Congress being one of the main entities associated in my mind) it was never something that was clearly within reach, nor of any use. Most of research I did in high school found third-party research that were quick online searches away. In college I took a British History class, and then I was informed of the services that the university paid for which I could access. This allowed me to find old editions of British newspapers, which were very cool to go through.
Now that I’m out of college, those resources are not available to me (without a hefty fee, which is why universities foot the bill and academics then use them), and also typically not relevant to what I do in my free time. However, a few months ago I became interested in the Sister City program that was created under Eisenhower. San Diego and Yokohama, Japan had one of the earlier relationships under this program, and some aspects of it are on display on Balboa Park, which is a main cultural center of San Diego.
I had some loose intentions of writing something up about the Sister City program, but it wasn’t quite as engaging of a development as I thought it might have been. So, instead of writing about Sister Cities, I wish to talk a little about where my research took me. Like a modern student who grew up as Wikipedia was becoming ever more reputable, I used the excellent method of looking at the sources of the Wikipedia article to find articles and documents to read.
Back in high school, and probably even college, I would have focused on the official website associated with Sister Cities, and particularly the website for the San Diego-Yokohama sister city relationship. However, two things conspired to push me further: first, both websites were lacking substantive information about the history of the program, and second, the little history I did find made direct reference to a few tangential programs developed under Eisenhower without further explanation.
I was focused on why this program was started, and what other programs were created in tandem. To do this, I needed to hunt down the original documents—legislation, executive orders, correspondence, whatever I could find—that related to this program and related initiatives. This is where we finally get to the punchline. All of these were readily available, scanned in high quality. I was amazed at this find, and went in pretty deep, reading actual typewritten correspondence, pieces of legislation, everything I could find.
It’s an incredible fact that we are allowed to see so much. Unlike the plans for the interstate bypass through Arthur Dent’s house, these documents are not hidden beneath layers of bureaucracy. They do not exist in a basement with a broken staircase and no lights. With an internet connection (typically available at your local library, or Starbucks for that matter) you can download all of these documents and use them for your own purposes.
I’m sure there are few governments that allow so much history to be publicly available. Of course there are classified documents, and I do vaguely recall a few lines here or there being redacted in personal correspondence; yet, we can easily answer historical questions using primary sources. I found immense enjoyment and awe reading these documents, as I strove to determine for myself the motivations and intentions of the programs they address. It’s also pretty amusing to read the legalese of a congressional law.
If you have a historical question, I definitely urge you to hunt down the sources yourself. Yes, you can find the accepted opinions are reports of the era, and those are also valuable; but seeing the source yourself and making your own call is both rewarding and important. We have so much information at our fingertips, and much of it is the opinions of other people, much like second-hand news correspondent Anthony Crispino on SNL. Opinions are valuable, and should be shared. But only basing your own opinions on a distillation of ideas from others around you can be rather dangerous.
We have the information and resources available to us. Do yourself a favor and just go hunt something down. Read a Supreme Court majority and minority opinion of a major (or forgotten) case. Try to read through an actual piece of legislation to appreciate what congresspeople do (or maybe don’t?) do on a daily basis. Read correspondence between former presidents and major political players, or personal friends. These are all fascinating; they connect us to the past, and also can provide an appreciation for the information that is available to us. We could be provided with many official summaries of documents (and sometimes we still are), but if the document is there to be read, it’s the responsibility of anyone involved to read as much of it as they can.
Beyond the responsibility, again, it’s just cool that the information is there. It’s fascinating to see what was on the minds of government employees and the thoughts of the country during a snapshot of time. Take advantage of it.
