Editorial Policy

Who writes our articles

Articles are published under the name Yesterday Files Editorial Team. Drafts are written with the help of AI writing tools, then checked against their sources and approved by a person before they are published. We do not invent authors, credentials, interviews or personal stories.

How we choose sources

1. Primary records and archives: the National Archives, the Library of Congress, presidential libraries and official government historians such as the Office of the Historian.
2. Museums and historic sites: the National Park Service, the Smithsonian and other museum collections.
3. Scholarly reference works and university centers such as the Miller Center at the University of Virginia and Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Forums, social media and anonymous websites may point us to a common question, but they are not cited as evidence. We do not copy text from Wikipedia; we may use Wikidata (a public-domain database) to cross-check dates.

Dates and calendars

• Every date in an article or an On This Day entry is checked against two independent sources. When they disagree, we say so or leave the entry out.
• Years before the Common Era are written as BCE, and early years as CE.
• Dates before 1582 follow the Julian calendar used at the time, and are labeled that way. Dates from British America before 1752 are given as commonly cited, with the Old Style date noted where it matters.

Disputed history and legends

Where historians disagree, we present the main views and who holds them instead of picking a winner. Popular stories that the record does not support (for example, some Thanksgiving and Valentine traditions) are labeled as tradition and kept separate from what documents show.

Sensitive topics

Articles about slavery, war, genocide and assassination are written in a serious, factual tone. On these pages we use calm illustrations, avoid playful animation, and do not place ads inside the article text.

Opinions

Each article ends with an "Our Take" section. It is clearly an opinion based on the sources cited.

Updates and corrections

Some facts change over time, such as the oldest or the current president. Articles with time-sensitive facts say "as of" a date and are reviewed when those facts change. The "Updated" date only changes for substantive edits. Factual corrections are listed on our corrections page; to report an error, contact us.

Advertising and affiliate links

Ads and affiliate links never decide what we cover. Book suggestions are matched to the topic and era of a page, and pages with affiliate links say so at the top. Details are in our affiliate disclosure.