If I were Going to Write a Ph.D. Dissertation in American History, I Would Start Here: The Clearing House of the American Welfare State
Feb. 12, 2011
At Cornell University, there is a collection of primary source documents of a little-known organization: the American Association For Labor Legislation. It operated in the first half of the twentieth century.
All of this collection belongs on-line. The collection is on microfilm.
Look at the names in the correspondence. This is like central headquarters for organizing of the American welfare state. Maybe it really was central headquarters. A Ph.D. dissertation dares not assert this, however. A dissertation says only that this was an important but neglected piece in a very large puzzle.
What should an ideal history dissertation topic be? Something with these features: (1) an unknown topic, (2) narrow, (3) piles of easily available primary source documentation; (4) capable of being summarized in 250 double-spaced manuscript pages, (5) good for at least three journal articles, leading to (6) a monograph published by at least a middle-tier university press and suitable as a tenure track product.
A dissertation need not make a major contribution. In fact, it shouldn't. If it looks like a major find, conceal it. No kid is supposed to find a diamond in the rough. It makes his committee look bad. It must obey the rule governing all bureaucracies: it must be good enough not to embarrass those who officially approve it, and not so good that it shows them up as third-raters.
Some historian looking for tenure could write a book on this organization. I think the manuscript could find a university press to publish it. The author should make a PDF of every document he cites. He should put these on-line on a site devoted to the otganization . . . after his book is in print.
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