Using Freedmen’s Bureau Records Carefully
A methods note on Reconstruction-era records, source power, and follow-up searches.
Methods
Methods
Methods
What Freedman’s Bank Records Can and Cannot Prove
A field note on relationship-rich bank registers and careful corroboration.
Methods
Why Witnesses Matter in Pension Files
A methods note on witnesses, neighbors, comrades, and community networks.
Methods
A Safe Way to Record Oral History
A methods note on consent, transcript labels, and privacy-safe family memory.
Methods
Handling Harmful Source Language
A methods note on quoting, paraphrasing, context, and reader care.
Methods
How to Build a Source Citation Notebook
A methods note on keeping source, clue, interpretation, and next check separate.
Methods
When Names Change Across Records
A methods note on spelling variants, aliases, road names, county names, and institutional names.
Methods
Newspapers Are Clues, Not Courtrooms
A places and methods note on using historic newspapers without overclaiming.
Methods
Reading Historic Maps Without Overclaiming
A methods note on dates, labels, corrections, and map limits.
Methods
Record Gaps Are Evidence Too
A methods note on missing records, burned counties, and better caution.