Evidence method

Sources, provenance and transcription

Identify source creator, date, archive or catalogue reference and custody history where known. Describe what it contains before explaining significance. Preserve source links, exact quotations where needed, and material gaps or limitations. Never invent citations or provenance.

Description, interpretation and uncertainty

Keep what a source records separate from the author’s interpretation of it. Attribute testimony to the named person and link their Testimony page; label allegations, inference and hypotheses accordingly; mark a statement with no document and no identified speaker SOURCE PENDING. State uncertainty where it changes the conclusion and include credible counter-evidence or alternative explanations.

Identifiers and versioning

Use consistent names, dates, identifiers and terminology. Where evidence pages have versions, explain what changed and preserve traceability to the source material and prior versions.

Testimony pages

One page per family member who has said or written anything on record, under Testimony. Each page lists only real sources, with date and reference: affidavits, witness statements, court records, letters, emails and newspaper quotes. Words in quotation marks are verbatim from the record held; a search snippet or OCR text is marked as such. A person with nothing on file has a page that reads “No affidavit or recorded statement on file yet”. Other pages cite a document where one exists, attribute a family member’s words to that person with a link to their page, and mark anything with neither as SOURCE PENDING. Where a court ruled otherwise, the evidence is shown first and the court’s words are quoted and sourced.

Evidence labels

PRIMARY DOCUMENT HELD: copy or scan of the original held. PRESS REPORT: newspaper report, not the original. CATALOGUE ENTRY ONLY: archive catalogue entry; document not yet read. TESTIMONY: a named family member’s recorded statement (affidavit, witness statement, letter, email or newspaper quote), cited with its date and linked to their Testimony page. SOURCE PENDING: no document and no identified speaker yet. HYPOTHESIS: working theory, not a finding.