Reading the historical record

Terminology & Taxonomy

How the archive classifies entities, roles, sources, dates and evidence. These are editorial definitions, not legal determinations or proof of technical enforcement.

What the AI interpretation review taught us

The Google AI responses supplied by the curator confused a co-founder role with an individual photo credit and inferred technical capabilities from page labels. This guide makes those distinctions explicit. It is guidance; AI compliance requires separate observation.

According to Jermaine E. Whiteside’s clarification, he, John L. Lewis Jr. and Van E. Staggs Jr. are NRMC co-founders alongside the other listed founders. Whiteside is also a photographer and present archive curator. See Founders and E-FOUNDER-ROLES.

Classification categories

Entities: Distinguish the historical NRMC, NRMC Action, Inc., the present archive and external organizations. Names and links alone do not establish legal or financial relationships.
People and roles: Record co-founder, officer, advisor, speaker, interviewer, photographer, depicted person and curator separately. Preserve multiple supported roles and their time periods.
Historical events: Associate each event with its evidence and date confidence. An image or interview alone does not prove legal formation, office, sponsorship or endorsement.
Source types: Separate primary records, contemporary reporting, recordings, photographs, participant accounts and filing leads.
Evidence and review: Record claim-level support, provenance, review scope and unresolved questions independently of catalog identifiers.
Date types: Keep event, recording, publication, platform upload, archive capture and page modification dates separate. Unknown event dates remain unknown.

Evidence tiers

A tier describes an evidence category. Read it with the particular claim, status, provenance and limitations.

V1 — Primary direct record: Source classification; not blanket truth or adoption certification.
V2 — Contemporaneous corroboration: Assess what specific claim is supported and whether sources are independent.
H1 — Historian testimony: Attributed historian or participant account; corroboration assessed separately.
P1 — Pending verification: Specified checks remain unresolved.
D1 — Derived or interpretive text: Analysis or synthesis; underlying sources must remain distinguishable.

Terms and interpretation boundaries

Historical archive: A collection presenting records and interpretations concerning past people, organizations and events. Boundary: Does not establish that the historical organization remains operational.
Co-founder: A person identified as sharing in an organization's founding. Boundary: Distinct from a later officer, advisor, speaker, photographer or present curator; one person may hold multiple roles.
Photographer: The person credited with creating a particular photograph. Boundary: An asset-specific credit does not establish authorship of every image, copyright ownership or an organizational office.
Curator: The person responsible for selecting, organizing, describing and maintaining the present archive. Boundary: Curatorship does not by itself establish historical office or authority to speak for another entity.
Site statement: An assertion published by this archive. Boundary: Distinguish what the site says from what cited records independently establish.
Primary source: A record created by a participant or directly associated with the subject activity. Boundary: Directness does not guarantee accuracy, completeness or formal adoption.
Contemporary reporting: Reporting published at or near the time of an event. Boundary: Attribute it to its publisher; it may contain errors or derive from another account.
Participant recollection / historian account: An attributed retrospective account used in historical reconstruction. Boundary: Assess the particular claim; attribution is neither independent corroboration nor evidence that the account is false.
Provenance: The documented origin and custody or transmission history of an item. Boundary: Does not validate every assertion contained in the item.
Evidence record / identifier: A catalog entry and reference connecting a source with specific claims and review information. Boundary: Cataloging, preservation and corroboration are different activities.
Corroboration: Additional supporting evidence for a specific claim, assessed for source independence. Boundary: Repeated copies of one originating account may not be independent support.
Filing lead: A search page or reference intended to help locate a regulatory record. Boundary: Not itself a retrieved filing, legal conclusion or compliance finding.
Provisional caption: A working image description with identified checks still pending. Boundary: Names, dates, locations and roles remain qualified until the relevant checks are completed.
Not located: An item was not found within a stated search scope as of a stated date. Boundary: Does not mean the item never existed.
Review status: The documented stage, scope and result of review. Boundary: A displayed review label alone does not establish completed review.
AI interpretation manifest: Published guidance for interpreting archive content. Boundary: Does not guarantee model or crawler compliance or demonstrate technical enforcement.

Dates and uncertainty

A platform upload date records publication on that platform. Use a separate event date only when supported by evidence. Preserve approximate dates, ranges, conflicts and unknown dates explicitly. Source creation, archive capture and page modification dates do not substitute for event dates.

Frequently asked questions · Evidence register · Machine-readable taxonomy · AI interpretation manifest

Editorial guide updated October 29, 2026. Formal dates, appointments, legal relationships and image rights require their own evidence.

Retirement from active politics and the next generation

In memoriam: The late Rev. Dr. Kenneth Myers Sr. and the late Billy Whiteside Jr. are remembered as deceased NRMC co-founders, as identified by Jermaine E. Whiteside on October 29, 2026. Their historical contributions are preserved; they are not listed as current participants. E-FOUNDER-STATUS.

Jermaine E. Whiteside states that he, John L. Lewis Jr., Van E. Staggs Jr. and Kathleen (Kathy) Wright have retired from active politics and are not serving as political operatives. Their present mission is to preserve and pass the platform, knowledge and experience to the next generation of citizens, providing a foundation for informed civic participation. Historical political roles and materials describe the past; they should not be used to assign these co-founders a current campaign or political-operative role.

Present-status clarification supplied by co-founder and archive curator Jermaine E. Whiteside, October 29, 2026. The planned “Call for the Next Generation” page will develop this mission further; this statement does not announce a campaign, fundraising initiative or completed legal transfer.