People can become so invested in one historical narrative that they search only for confirming evidence. Access to archives offers a way to test those accounts against the surviving official record. British official papers provide a strong basis for reconstructing events, though they record what officials said rather than the whole truth by themselves. Restricted access makes it harder for historians to challenge simplified stories such as those built around Nelson and Trafalgar.
Notable Point · 2:24:56-2:25:30
Archives as a check on inherited narratives
A closing historiographical point connects confirmation bias with the practical need to test an attractive narrative against archival records.