How do you do documentary
research?
Documentary research involves
searching libraries, archives and museums for
information relating to your study. This could be
information that relates to individual places in
the study area or information relating to the study
area as a whole. You could find information in
maps, plans, photographs, illustrations, books,
articles or reports.
This information is likely to
help you to describe and determine the significance
of heritage places by:
- suggesting places that
might have heritage value
- providing evidence about
the development of heritage places over
time
- describing the past and
present features of places.
Remember that information
often is influenced by the culture and intention of
the person recording the information, so records
may not be comprehensive or accurate.
A comprehensive resource for
researchers is the HERA bibliographic database
which has 32 000 citations with abstracts on
Australia's heritage places. You can visit this
database on line via the Australian Heritage
Commission's Website (www.ahc.gov.au).
It is also available on the Heritage and
Environment CD-ROM from RMIT Publishing, GPO
Box, 12477, A'Beckett Street, Melbourne, Victoria
3001. Phone (03) 9349 4994. This CD-ROM also
contains the Threatened Species Database, the
Australian Historic Records Register and the
Australian Institute of Architects'
Database.
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