I’ve begun looking at the NAACP Papers I have on microfilm, and I had forgotten just how much material can fit on one reel of film. I’ve been through one complete reel and am planning to go through the remaining 3 reels before the end of the semester. I’m making PDF files from the film and I’ll go through them over break to identify the most useful resources. This will save me a trip to the Library of Congress, though I’m still planning to visit Yale while at home to look at their collection of the monthly periodical Voice of India. I feel like the bulk of my remaining research is in primary sources: FRUS, newspapers, potential newsreel and radio, as well as the testimony from the different characters in my story I have yet to profile (including Churchill and FDR). I do also want to do a bit more work in ethnic lobby scholarship as well as look at secondary sources dealing with the Anglo-American wartime relationship, such as Christopher Thorne’s Allies of a Kind

Looking towards the future of the of my project: I’m planning to adopt some version of the the paper I presented on Thursday as my introductory chapter to my thesis, though I may consider splitting it in two, and making the historiography a second chapter of its own. Regardless of this decision, this first one (or two) chapter is 20 pages long, leaving me about 30 for the rest of my thesis. With this is mind, here is my tentative table of contents:

Ch. 1: Introduction/Historiography: The Forgotten Lobby

Ch. 2: Pre-1942 (Atlantic Charter, Pearl Harbor): Building the Framework- The Early Development of the both India Lobby and U.S.-India relationship

Ch. 3: 1942-1943 (Johnson, Cripps, Quit India, Phillips Missions): Active Engagement- Lobby activity during the height of American awareness of India

Ch. 4: 1944-1945 (Leak and U.N. Conference): A Sophisticated Coalition- The Lobby in its maturity–connections to the NAACP, mass media, and a voice on an international stage

Ch. 5: Conclusion: Internationalism and Ethnic Lobbies

After spending the first 2 weeks of next semester compiling the research I’ve done over break with other loose ends, and doing any reorganization of my Dec. 1 paper, here is my proposed writing schedule for the spring:

Feb. 10- Ch. 2

Feb. 17- Ch. 3

Feb. 24- Ch. 4

March 1- Ch. 5/rough draft due

I may need to alter this timeline once I have an idea of my course load for my other classes, but as I see it right now, I will need to do all of my writing in February.