Projects
Project 01: Multi-Archive Digitisation Campaign
Scope: 2022 – 2025 | Status: Completed
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This project involved the design and execution of a large-scale, multi-archival digitisation campaign across the United States, deliberately constructed on a broader empirical base than any previous study of the Reece Committee. The objective was to assemble a unified, interoperable documentary corpus capable of supporting relational, network-oriented historical analysis
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Corpus Components
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Congressional Records: Hearings, reports, memoranda, internal correspondence, and administrative documents of the Reece Committee (1953–54), including the Dodd Report (U.S. National Archives and Records Administration)
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Personal Papers: B. Carroll Reece Papers (East Tennessee State University), Norman Dodd Papers (Rosalind Kress Haley Library), Wayne L. Hays Papers (Ohio University), Waldemar A. Nielsen Papers (Indiana University Indianapolis), Raymond Moley Papers (Hoover Institution Library & Archives), Alexander Sachs Papers (Herbert Hoover Presidential Library), and William J. Casey Papers (Hoover Institution Library & Archives)
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Foundation Archives: Rockefeller Foundation and Ford Foundation Records (Rockefeller Archive Center), Carnegie Corporation of New York (Columbia University), Pew Memorial Foundation (Hagley Museum and Library), and the Twentieth Century Fund (New York Public Library)
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Para-institutional and Ancillary Collections: Declassified CIA memoranda (FOIA ERR)
Project 02: SNT/ANT Conceptual & Methodological Framework
Scope: 2025 – Present | Status: Ongoing
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This project develops a structured conceptual framework that brings together Social Network Theory (SNT) and Actor–Network Theory (ANT) in a methodologically coherent and scalable way for historical research. Rather than proposing a unified theory, the framework is designed to articulate and coordinate insights from SNT and ANT while preserving their distinct analytical logics. The project addresses recurring methodological challenges in historical network research by enabling the systematic and source-traceable analysis of both direct relationships and mediated interactions, without conflating the two or requiring parallel, unsynchronised datasets
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Core Contributions​
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Hybrid SNT/ANT Framework Development: Design of a structured analytical framework that preserves the distinct assumptions and strengths of SNT and ANT while allowing them to be used in combination within a single methodological system. This enables researchers to analyse actors both through direct relational ties and through networks shaped by mediation, translation, and institutional or material intermediaries, without collapsing these dimensions into a single explanatory register
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Structured Relational Model: Development of a rule-based relational logic for distinguishing, classifying, and relating direct interactions and mediated influences in a consistent and interoperable manner. The model provides a disciplined way of representing different interaction types across historical and political contexts, while remaining adaptable to the evidentiary constraints of archival sources
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Multi-Scalar Analytical Design: Formulation of methodological principles enabling analysis across micro, meso, and macro levels, supporting interpretations that range from interpersonal dynamics to organisational structures and institutional processes. The framework facilitates historically grounded, multi-scalar analysis without presupposing fixed levels of causality or influence
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Methodological Transparency and Reflexivity: Emphasis on clarity, consistency, and source-traceable analytical logic, ensuring that relational interpretations remain explicit, reviewable, and adaptable. The framework is designed to be applicable across different historical fields and cases while remaining attentive to evidentiary limits and interpretive uncertainty
Project 03: Computational Framework for Relational Analysis
Scope: 2025 – Present | Status: Ongoing
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This project develops the technical and computational foundations required to operationalise historically grounded relational analysis in a reproducible and methodologically transparent manner. It focuses on building a digital architecture that supports structured relational modelling, qualitative data processing, and dynamic visual analysis, while remaining aligned with the interpretive requirements of historical research. The project is designed to support – not replace – archival interpretation, enabling researchers to explore relational patterns at scale while maintaining close connection to primary sources
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Core Components
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Graph-Based & Relational Environments: Development of interoperable graph-based and relational database structures to support dynamic querying, structured relational modelling, and multi-layered visual analysis across heterogeneous historical and political data
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Computational Pipelines & Assisted Processing: Design of flexible, semi-automated workflows for qualitative data processing, including the careful and controlled use of machine-learning techniques to support tasks such as pattern detection, entity identification, and preliminary relational grouping. These tools are intended as aids to interpretation rather than autonomous analytical agents
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Visual & Relational Modelling Systems: Creation of modular pipelines for generating multi-layered visualisations – such as network maps, temporal-relational diagrams, and structural representations – capable of illustrating patterns, processes, and relational dynamics in ways that remain interpretable and historically grounded
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Reproducible Research Architecture: Establishment of documentation standards, versioning protocols, and workflow structures that support methodological transparency, long-term preservation, and the reproducibility of computationally informed research, while remaining compatible with iterative and exploratory historical inquiry
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Integrated Computational Tool Suite: Development of a cohesive digital environment that operationalises the conceptual framework defined in Project 02, enabling the practical application of hybrid relational methodologies in historical, sociological, and political research without presupposing exhaustive formalisation or theoretical closure
