Cover Letter and Primary Source Analysis
In this paper, I imagined that I was a historian looking to visit the Davidson College Archives and Special Collections. In my cover letter, I asked about the presence and significance of anti-Vietnam War demonstrations at Southern institutions of higher education.
After writing a research proposal, I analyzed several oral history interviews about the Vietnam War era from Davidson faculty and staff. Listening to these interviews helped me to understand the influence of religion and Southern norms on Davidson’s Vietnam War experience.
While the oral histories were a unique primary source (I had to request special access to listen to them!), they only represented faculty’s memories of Vietnam era history. If I were to further pursue this research, I would look for Davidson students’ recollections of that time period.
