Historical Records and Collections

Abstract

This chapter introduces the use of historical documents and other forms of information that depend on written explanation, such as natural history collections and historical photographs. After a general explanation of the unique values of these data for establishing historical baselines and trajectories, it gives a brief introduction to the methods used to assess the validity of the sources, including consideration of various biases that are integral to written documents. These include a consideration of scale. The chapter then describes a variety of sources, including historical data, maps, photographs, government documents, and plant and animal collections, with examples of how each has been used to establish some condition or process in the past.