Trauma is a difficult-to-research area contemporaneously because of a wide range of practical and ethical reasons. This paper considers the nature of trauma, reviews the literature on studying trauma contemporaneously, considers the merits of archival research and reports on one author’s study of four episodes involving traumatic experiences using archival research to understand the process of strategizing in a non-government organization. We contribute to the methodological literature both by the conduct and reporting of these studies that are unique to academic management study, but also by reflecting critically on the merits of such an approach.