Information infrastructures and historical research: A framework useful for professional and amateur historians

Abstract

Abstract In this article we delve into the similarities as well as differences in the research methods of professional and amateur historians via the lens of information infrastructures. We pay special attention to the methods of amateur family historians before and after the arrival of the Internet identifying what changed as well as what did not, offering historical perspective. We also compare their methods with those of professional historians. We find that to a surprising degree research methods used by professional and amateur historians are more alike than different. We discuss ways of bring professional and amateur historians into conversation with each other, and explain how this would be to their mutual benefit.