Sources & standards

The two-source rule

No record enters the archive on a single source. Every entry carries at least two independent sources: a primary record (an archival document, a public filing, an object, an interview) paired with at least one corroborating published or documentary source, or two independent published treatments. Both appear on the item page with a working resolve link, and both are listed in the bibliography below. Each link has been opened and confirmed to resolve before publication.

Consent policy

Oral histories are deposited only under a recorded consent term, and that per-entry term overrides the archive's general license whenever the two conflict. Three release levels are offered:

• Full release: name and transcript open, on the subject's signed consent.
• Pseudonymous release: content open under a pseudonym, with original audio sealed for a stated period.
• Partial release: specified excerpts only, often family-mediated, with named events or details sealed at the subject's request.

Anshan-side subjects are offered an additional safety addendum allowing an embargo period, the sealing of specific names or events from any published derivative, and family-mediated renewal for biographical entries built from their testimony. The Anshan oral-history responses now in the archive are real, collected voluntarily in July 2026. The questionnaire asks for no name, ID number, or home address, so the responses are pseudonymous by design; personal identifiers on any contributed artifact are redacted, and the original paper forms and photographs are held privately. The Houston-side oral histories are not yet collected.

A note on naming real people

Two kinds of real people appear in this archive. The first are documentary subjects, public or historical figures (a commemorated model worker; a deceased historian of Houston oil) documented from published and archival sources, with no claim that they participated in this project. The second are outreach targets, living scholars the student plans to approach for advice, named on the About page and clearly labeled not yet secured. No living person is presented as having advised, reviewed, or endorsed this archive.

Consolidated bibliography

Every source cited anywhere in the archive, de-duplicated, alphabetized, each with a resolving link.

1. Anshan field collection questionnaire response, 2026 (original held privately).
2. Anshan field collection questionnaire response, July 2026 (original held privately).
3. Anshan field collection, July 2026 (photograph; original held by the contributing family).
4. Steel & Oil archive field instrument (子女·晚辈版), 2026.
5. Steel & Oil archive field instrument (职工本人版 / 子女·晚辈版), 2026.
6. Steel & Oil archive field instrument (职工本人版), 2026.

6 distinct sources cited.