that’s probably where the methodology used by trained historians is useful.
I created a History of Tech Design class [0] of 6 different tracks for design students. I’m not an historian, but I have some training in finding original sources, sorting them, accessing archives… it helped a lot, and I could use a lot of primary sources full of not-well-known details.
Back in the 90s it would have taken me weeks or months to just access this amount of historical material!
I had to turn this class into something accessible and interesting for design students / pros, but I certainly do not consider that dumbing down, just:
Know your audience!
Especially as you get back to 20 or 25 years ago, the idea that you can just do some web searches to uncover much more than surface information is somewhat naive. A lot of information isn't accessible to casual public search. You need to use libraries, talk to people, etc.
You would be surprised, as I was, how much raw documents and primary sources much much older than 2000/1995 (to take your 20/25 year reference) are available, thanks to various digitization efforts. Check my notes for some nice sources dating back to the 60s.
(Not in my notes but just yesterday I stumbled upon the original 1990 memo by adobe co-founder John Warnock for the PDF project, Camelot. Great read)
You are absolutely right that there’s so much more in boxes somewhere and in the mind of the people who were there, but as a starting point online archives are great. We can only encourage more digitization of more archives (it’s a lot or works, organizing and sorting even before scanning)
Oh, I don't disagree. For a recent project, I found some real gems at a time when I couldn't go to a good library. But it's definitely fragmentary once you get past digital-first content.
I created a History of Tech Design class [0] of 6 different tracks for design students. I’m not an historian, but I have some training in finding original sources, sorting them, accessing archives… it helped a lot, and I could use a lot of primary sources full of not-well-known details.
Back in the 90s it would have taken me weeks or months to just access this amount of historical material!
I had to turn this class into something accessible and interesting for design students / pros, but I certainly do not consider that dumbing down, just: Know your audience!
[0] https://workflowy.com/s/strate-history-of-te/a4ID6kKtznLwQC7...