Well readers, I survived the dark, cobwebbed corner of the library called the Archives.
http://az616578.vo.msecnd.net/files/2016/06/14/6360147550283639031481054154_tumblr_m1lvkseqcm1r99is9.gif
I’m just kidding. The archives at Santa Clara are actually on the third floor of the library, in a well lit room (lots of natural light) and no cobwebs (that I could see).
The curators of the archives nicely laid out different archives, sorted by category on the table. I went to the table that had newspaper laid out from the 60’s. Since I wanted to study the history of women at Santa Clara, I decided that the year that women were introduced (1961) was a good place to start.
However, the archives is not like google where you can just search something and all the results will pop up. No, I had to flip through old newspapers, trying to find anything related to women. Instead, I came across an article about the lack of participation in elections. While not related to my original topic, this article interested me.
Source: Tenor
I decided to run with this idea about the lack of participation and passion at Santa Clara. I was in a political club in high school called Junior Statesman of America, and its slogan was “fight apathy”. Well, that’s what I wanted to explore: the apathy at Santa Clara.
While this had nothing to do with my original topic I had thought of, I am actually more interested in the complacency of the student body. This is a side effect that I didn’t realize would happen when I journeyed into the archives. While I set out to do one thing, I found a different, more engaging topic for myself.