'Evidence Explained' is the definitive guide to the citation and analysis of
historical sources.
History still waits to be discovered. In courthouses and warehouses, town
halls and rectories, dusty attics and ancient trunks, old records survive in
every form imaginable.
Technology delivers other treasures. Websutes and DVDs offer documents and
relics in many digital forms. Audio files, podcasts, and e-zines stream insight
into history. Libraries and societies house microfiche and film, reprints and
revisions, translations and transcripts, alongside digital access to books and
journals previously in print.
According to the author, there are no historical resources we can trust at
face value. Records simply offer evidence, and their assertions may or may not
be true. To decide what actually happened, we must understand those records. To
analyse that evidence and judge what to believe, we also need particular facts
about those records.
Students, scholars, and curious sleuths all face the same questions:
- What details must we capture for each type of source in order to
understand it and properly interpret its evidence?
- How can we evaluate a record's credibility - especially when its
information conflicts with assertions made in other sources?
- How do we identify each source - not just so it can be found again, but so
we and others can judge its reliability?
'Evidence Explained' guides you through a maze of sources not covered by
other citation manuals - all kinds of original records, accessed through
different media. A thousand citation models for US and international documents
demonstrate how to handle the quirks that stump up when we use those materials.
'Evidence Explained' is the go-to guide for everone who explores the past.
Contents:
Foreword
1. Fundamentals of Evidence Analysis
2. Fundamentals of Citation
3. Archives and Artifacts
4. Business and Institutional Records
5. Cemetery Records
6. Census Records
7. Church Records
8. Local and State Records: Courts and Governance
9. Local and State Records: Licenses, Registrations, Rolls and Vital Records
10. Local and State Records: Property and Probates
11. National Government Records
12. Publications: Books, CDs, Maps, Leaflets and Videos
13. Publications: Legal Works and Government Documents
14. Publications: Periodicals, Broadcasts and Web Miscellanea
Appendix A: Glossary
Appendix B: Bibliography
Index
Index: QuickCheck Models
