What does an archival source actually prove?

1. Start with one question

“How old is Allika?” is too broad for a single source. A narrower question is: “What date does the National Archives catalogue assign to the Piiritusevabriku A11 plan?” This prevents us from substituting a document's date for the age of a farm or building. Before searching, note the present-day place and the historical spelling used in the record.

2. Read the record before drawing a conclusion

The National Archives map catalogue describes ERA.T-3.22.1281, sheet 1, as a plan from 1932. Its title links it to the Piiritusevabriku no. A11 holding separated from Viru-Maidla manor. The recorded scale is 1:4000. These are catalogue details checked on 8 September 2026.

The record helps locate the document; it does not replace reading the sheet. A claim about an owner's name, boundary point or area needs examination of the sheet and a precise location for the reading. An illegible word remains illegible: do not fill it with a familiar-sounding name.

3. Limit the claim to the evidence

A checkable sentence is: “The catalogue dates this plan to 1932.” “Allika's present house was built in 1932” does not follow from that record. It requires separate evidence about the building and its construction date. A historical holding in the same area is not automatically today's property either: the relationship between boundaries and names must be demonstrated separately.

4. Use a second source for the right question

The EKI place-name dictionary records Oendall in 1591 as an early form of Oandu. This is a reference work about a village name, not proof of Allika farm's foundation. A reference work provides leads; an original document still requires checking its own text and location. Two sources help only when they address the question being asked.

5. Leave a trail another reader can follow

Copy the fields below and complete one record per claim. If a source cannot be opened, mark it “unchecked”, not “confirmed”. When a later finding changes your conclusion, retain a note of the earlier reading and identify the new evidence that changed it.