TY - JOUR A1 - Abromeit, John T1 - Critical Theory and Primary Source Research: Subjective Reflections on Working in the Herbert Marcuse and Max Horkheimer Archives JF - Aubert, I., Nobre, M. (Eds.): The Archives of Critical Theory, Cham (Springer) 2023, pp. 225-250. [Online ISBN 978-3-031-36585-0] [doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-36585-0_16] N2 - Historians, including intellectual historians such as myself, rely more on primary source research than philosophers. During the period 1992–2001, I conducted extensive research on both the Herbert Marcuse and Max Horkheimer Archives in Frankfurt, Germany. This essay describes my experiences working in these archives. I highlight, in particular, some of the most important discoveries I made in the archives and how the primary source documents shaped my understanding of Herbert Marcuse and Max Horkheimer’s crucial contributions to the development of Critical Theory. The essay also emphasizes the value of primary source research, especially for those working in the materialist tradition of the early Frankfurt School, which emphasizes the >Zeitkern der Wahrheit<, that is, the impossibility of separating ideas from a historically specific social context. Y1 - 2023 ER -