How to Read This Archive

Notes on the Use and Interpretation of Records

This project is presented as a collection of records. There is no narrator and no summary. Documents appear in the form they were created: reports, transcripts, logs, memos, and media clippings. Some are complete. Some are partial. Some contradict each other. None are corrected after the fact.

Readers are not expected to move through the archive quickly.

A few things to keep in mind:

1. Documents are not ordered by importance.
Early records may matter later. Routine paperwork may carry more weight than dramatic material.

2. No single document explains what happened.
Meaning emerges only through comparison—dates, routines, absences, and repetition across records.

3. Official language is not neutral.
What is written down reflects what the institution believed mattered at the time. What is missing can be just as significant as what is recorded.

4. Witnesses speak for themselves.
Transcripts preserve voice, memory, and emotion. Formal statements flatten those things. Both are part of the record.

5. Media coverage reflects fear, not understanding.
Newspaper clippings capture how the community experienced events, not necessarily what occurred.

6. This archive does not announce solutions.
Cases are solvable using only the documents provided. No outside knowledge is required. No answer key is supplied.

Readers are encouraged to take their time, reread earlier entries, and notice patterns.