Historical Accuracy & Research Method
This book is visually dramatic, but the research standard is deliberately conservative: association is not causation, a network is not itself proof of coordination, and an illustrated document is not a substitute for a real archival source.
The governing rule: show what the evidence supports, distinguish what remains inference, and correct chronology, geography, treaty history, and institutional claims before publication.
How claims are handled
1
Primary sources first. Treaties, statutes, agency correspondence, land records, court decisions, ledgers, military records, newspapers, lodge records, and archival collections are the foundation.
2
Freemasonry is treated as a documented network variable. The book distinguishes individual Masonic membership, overlapping officials, informal networks, institutional lodge action, and documented coordination by a Masonic body. Those categories are not interchangeable.
3
Maps must make geographic and chronological sense. Routes, treaty areas, reservations, territorial boundaries, forts, towns, rivers, passes, and dates should be appropriate to the year shown. Modern borders used only for orientation should be labeled as such.
4
No fake archival proof. Reconstructed headlines, telegrams, orders, or document excerpts must not be presented as genuine primary sources. Decorative papers are storytelling devices unless specifically sourced.
5
AI finds leads; humans verify sources. AI can organize, transcribe, compare, map, and surface relationships across large collections, but conclusions should be checked against original records and reviewed in legal and historical context.
6
Native nations determine what comes next. Historical reconstruction can improve the factual record and identify legal or policy questions; priorities, remedies, and future action belong to affected Native nations, their governments, counsel, and communities.
Publication status
This is an illustrated research project, not a judicial finding. Some pages present hypotheses, research leads, or synthetic visualizations. The intended standard for future revisions is to label uncertainty and narrow claims whenever the source record does not establish stronger conclusions.
Open the full map / timeline / battle-route correction standard used for production →