Assessing evidence quality for a local repository (i.e. collection)

Dear Editor;

As noted in another of my posts, I have inherited a substantial number of documents. Many of these contain "wet" signatures (i.e. original signatures), others are photostat copies of originals, and still others are notarized copies. If I now maintain them in my own files as a collection, they will not necessarily have a known "source-of-the-source". How does this affect the assessment of their "quality".

Submitted byEEon Sun, 01/13/2019 - 21:51

History-Hunter,

EE cannot give you an across-the-board answer to that question. Just knowing the source-of-the-source doesn't guarantee quality, of course; it just helps us appraise what we have. In the case of your inherited materials, as with anything you would find in, say, a vertical file at a library, you'll need to evaluate each item on its own merits—both for physical form and content.

Dear Editor;

I understand. In this case, because most of the documents are originals or perfectly legible copies of the originals, the lack of "source-of-the-source" information likely does not reduce the confidence in the actual contents of the artifact.