Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.
On this Labor Day preceding the landmark 2012 presidential elections, at a time when the well-being of American workers is more at stake than ever before, Americans need to understand how Congress and congressional representatives truly work so that they can make an informed decision this November.
More importantly, those who teach political science are obligated to teach their students how to look beyond mere propaganda and make decisions based on facts. A celebratory tribute today to all professors who teach and research political science is therefore in order.
Kudos must also paid to another type of worker who has helped infinitely in providing the resources for people to learn more about politics––the archivists. Archival research is essential in illuminating the story behind the numbers and providing insights that statistics will not. The painstaking work of archivists must be recognized not only in political science but other disciplines as well.
However, archival research is rare in political science because political scientists believe it to be too complicated, with the common complaint being that they would not even know how to begin doing archival research in political science. There are now no more excuses for political scientists as seen in this article by the Huffington post in which Cambria Press author and series editor, Sean Q Kelly, (who is also coeditor of the Cambria Studies in Politics, Institutions, and Public Policy in America and coauthor of CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title, Jimmy Carter and the Water Wars) is casting much-needed light for his students in the aptly titled course “Inside the Black Box: Politics in the Archives.”
The course is based on his book, recently published by Cambria Press, Doing Archival Research in Political Science—a book which has been described as an “excellent, timely, and cogently written book” that “could help bring about a revolution in the way political scientists do their work” by Dr. Raymond Smock, director of the Robert C. Byrd Center for Legislative Studies; former historian, U. S. House of Representatives; and past president of the Association of Centers for the Study of Congress.
Doing Archival Research in Political Science is the perfect book to highlight this Labor Day because it celebrates the immensely important work of these two groups of workers who help cast light on how to research the political systems that shape the world
Happy Labor Day to the archivists, political scientists, and all the workers who contribute to the strength, prosperity, and well-being not just of the United States of America but the world!