Archival & Visual Researcher — Obscure / Hard-to-Find Source Material

I am building a large private visual research archive and am looking for an expert archival / visual researcher to continuously discover unusual, obscure, historically interesting, and genuinely difficult-to-find source material. This is not a data-entry position and I am not looking for someone who simply searches Google Images, Pinterest, or the first few pages of search results. The primary job is discovery. I want someone who genuinely enjoys going down research rabbit holes, following leads between collections, and finding material buried in places most people would never think to search. WHAT YOU'LL RESEARCH The archive is intentionally broad. Material may include: Historical, found, vernacular, and institutional photography Archival films, instructional films, educational films, promotional films, and obscure short films Scanned books, magazines, newspapers, catalogues, manuals, and guides Government and institutional publications School and university archives Medical and scientific imagery Fashion and beauty Architecture and interiors Art exhibitions and ephemera Graphic design and visual identity Advertising and consumer culture Ceremonies, rituals, etiquette, and social customs Work and service environments Religion and morality Propaganda and public messaging Crime and scandal Death and memorial practices Pageants and competitions Invitations, brochures, postcards, contact sheets, posters, and other ephemera Historical websites and digital material Strange or difficult-to-classify material I am particularly interested in material that feels specific, strange, forgotten, institutional, culturally revealing, visually unusual, or difficult to locate. WHERE YOU SHOULD BE COMFORTABLE SEARCHING I want research to extend well beyond conventional search engines, including: University special collections Museum and library databases National, state, and municipal archives Government databases Historical societies Digitized books and periodicals Newspaper archives Photography and film archives Institutional repositories Foreign-language collections Web archives and old websites Auction and estate archives Public-domain collections Poorly indexed or legacy websites Obscure online databases and communities Experience with advanced search techniques, OSINT, Tor Browser, and privacy-oriented research tools is a plus when used for lawful research and lawful access to material. I am not looking for hacked or stolen databases, illegal marketplaces, private information, access-control circumvention, or unlawful material. HOW THE RESEARCH SHOULD WORK I want you to source broadly and let me curate narrowly. I would rather receive 100 genuinely interesting possibilities and select 10 exceptional objects myself than have the researcher make the final curatorial decisions for me. For useful discoveries, preserve enough information that I can trace the material back to its source: Original source URL Direct object/page URL when available Original title when known Date/year when known Source institution/archive Basic description Relevant keywords Downloadable media when legally available A short note when something about the discovery deserves attention Do not invent missing dates, titles, identities, provenance, or attribution. Unknown information can remain unknown. Finding exceptional material is considerably more important to me than producing perfect metadata. WHO I'M LOOKING FOR Relevant backgrounds could include archival research, visual research, historical research, academic research, investigative research, library science, digital humanities, journalism, film research, art history, genealogy, or OSINT. Formal credentials are not required. What matters most is how you search and what you actually find. A great researcher should be able to begin with a subject, discover an obscure collection, follow its references into another institution or publication, and eventually uncover material I would be unlikely to discover through ordinary searching. WHEN APPLYING Please do not send a generic research proposal. Instead, answer these questions: Where do you search for historical or visual material that most people don't know how to find? Which archives, databases, research methods, search techniques, or tools are you experienced with? Are you comfortable researching poorly indexed and foreign-language collections? Are you familiar with Tor Browser, OSINT, or other privacy-oriented research tools for lawful research? Find 3 genuinely unusual archival items or online collections and send me the links. Briefly explain how you found each one. I will likely begin with a small paid research trial with several researchers. If your sourcing is consistently strong, unusual, and relevant, this can become an ongoing research position.