So you discover....

[Hilldodger]

The second family know nothing about the first whom he just walked out on.

 

[swee'pea99]

Am I the only one slightly thrown by the idea that there is such a thing as a 'great Victorian cycle champion'?



You learn something new every day!

 

[Hilldodger]

In Victorian times cycle racing was by far the biggest sport in the World and much bigger than it is today. I think you'd be suprised at the level of performance these guys put in considering the bicycle was a new invention and there had been little development of it.

 

[Kirstie]

Well everyone goes on about how in victorian times there were horrendous double standards. This just seems to be symptomatic of that...

I think you're right in letting the archivist deal with it. As a researcher you've got a duty not to harm research participants or other stakeholders.

A question though: did the family know that you were doing the research before you embarked upon it ie what is their relationship with your research project? Did they have any expectations of the research before you started? If so, what was your role in that and how did you prepare them for it?

Actually that was three questions (sorry)

 

[ChrisKH]

Surely the facts, are the facts, are the facts? All this fannying about whether to tell or not. Mind you, I have coloured views, being the great grandson of a weathy Jewish immigrant who left my great-grandmother pregnant for my grandmother to be born in the workhouse in the early 1900's. Somewhere, there is another family who deserve to be told what their father/grandfather/great-grandfather etc. was really like.

 

[Archie_tect]

think about the damage that may be caused before you do anything.

...and then tell them. They'll be mortified that he was a cyclist...