Message posted by Brian L on March 26, 2012 at 9:29:14 PST:

Good post, Peter.

From my very brief an undistinguished foray into amateur history, researching local abandoned railroads, about the only thing I've learned is to expect consistent discrepancies between professional, careful historians. I guess it shouldn't be surprising that even official records, let alone oral histories, can vary dramatically. The real problem is when a good historian adds a small story to an official history that later turns out to be completely bogus. Except, now that it's published in the official history, even as an afterthought, it now becomes citeable and therefore "official".

In Reply to: Re: Embellishment or altered memories posted by Peter Merlin on March 26, 2012 at 7:57:55 PST:

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