Professor Peng's course on U.S.-China relations presented some new and unique challenges to my use of primary sources.  This course culminated in a research paper "Cold War Thawing: Richard Nixon's 1972 China Visit and the Renewing of Sino-American Relations."  During my research for this paper, I encountered a large discrepancy in the availability of sources from the Chinese perspective. Much of this was due to a lack of translated sources and Cold War era censorship. These challenges were exacerbated by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic which further restricted my ability to physically access potentially useful sources.  Analyzing and interpreting limited primary sources has allowed me to achieve the learning outcome of generating research questions and evaluating how the sources inform the research question.

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As a result, I was forced to deduce and surmise as much about events as possible with predominantly U.S. sources. One of the most common methods was comparing what was stated in U.S. sources with the actual outcome of dialogs and events.  Thankfully, I was able to locate sources that have since been declassified and that offered more unadulterated information.  One such source that proved to be very valuable throughout my entire research process was "The Kissinger Transcripts: the Top Secret Talks with Beijing and Moscow." [1] This book was a collection of conversations between former National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger and other top U.S. officials including President Richard Nixon. 

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Although this book was almost entirely based on Henry Kissinger's interpretation of events, it included conversations between officials that were very different from what reached the public.  Not only did this provide a more honest evaluation of Sino-American relations at the time, but it also guided the rest of my research by showing what was, and was not, ending up in public sources like newspapers.  Similar to HIST 530, I used the strengths and weaknesses of different sources to establish a much clearer picture of what transpired.  Approaching my research with this knowledge utilized lessons from my previous graduate experiences with primary sources. 

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Finally, this course allowed me to identify and correct some misconceptions I had regarding the topic. For example, I was under the assumption that all communist countries worked together with little or no conflict.  As I discovered, this was not always the case and China was having its own tensions with the Soviet Union.  This is just one example of how proper examination of sources is crucial to the accurate dissemination of information. For a museum professional, using primary sources in this manner is necessary to inform individuals who may have inaccurate preconceptions. 

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[1] Henry Kissinger and William Burr, The Kissinger Transcripts: the Top Secret Talks with Beijing and Moscow (New York: New Press, 1999).