Notice What an Archive Does Not Cover - Practice 2

Surviving records are not a complete sample of everyone who lived.

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Surviving records are not a complete sample of everyone who lived. Selection, loss and access can shape an archive. A missing record does not by itself prove an event never happened. All record sets below are fictional.

Worked example

An archive holding only property owners' letters cannot automatically represent residents who owned no property.

Three schematic surviving documents accompany a warning that archives can be selected sets. Missing evidence does not by itself prove an event never happened or a perspective never existed.

Would you believe it?

A flat world map cannot preserve every distance, angle and area everywhere. Choosing a projection means choosing which properties matter most for the task.

Question 1 Invented archive 6 preserves letters only from publishers. Which limitation matters? Missing letters prove all readers had no views. It may omit the perspectives of all readers. It fully represents all readers.

Question 2 Invented archive 7 preserves letters only from city officials. Which limitation matters? It may omit the perspectives of all residents. It fully represents all residents. Missing letters prove all residents had no views.

Question 3 Invented archive 8 preserves letters only from merchants. Which limitation matters? It fully represents all consumers. Missing letters prove all consumers had no views. It may omit the perspectives of all consumers.

Question 4 Invented archive 9 preserves letters only from officers. Which limitation matters? Missing letters prove all soldiers had no views. It may omit the perspectives of all soldiers. It fully represents all soldiers.

Question 5 Invented archive 10 preserves letters only from museum donors. Which limitation matters? It may omit the perspectives of all community members. It fully represents all community members. Missing letters prove all community members had no views.

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