How we research
Last updated
Nostalgia only works if it’s true. This is how we make sure what we publish holds up.
Where our facts come from
- Prices and wages: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Census Bureau, the Energy Information Administration, the Postal Service and the Department of Labor.
- Everyday life: dated newspaper and magazine ads, mail-order catalogs, company records, museum collections and the Library of Congress.
- What happened to a company or a product: court records, annual reports, trade magazines and newspaper reporting from the time.
- What things are worth today: completed sales with a date, never asking prices alone. We say which sales we counted and over what period.
Then and now
When we turn an old price into today’s dollars, we use the Consumer Price Index from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and round the result to the precision it deserves. A 1955 price doesn’t become exact to the penny just because a calculator says so.
Editorial standards
- Every fact has a source. Each article lists its sources at the end. If we can’t back something up, we leave it out.
- We say what we don’t know. When records disagree or a figure is an estimate, the article says so.
- Nothing invented. We don’t make up memories, quotes or readers. Reader memories we publish are real, shared with permission, and signed with a first name and state.
- Our own words. We quote sources briefly and with credit, and write everything else ourselves.
- Independence. Advertisers never choose, review or pay for what we write. We don’t publish sponsored articles.
- Fairness. Stories about companies that failed or products that hurt people are told from the record, including who was hurt and who was left out.
Photos
We use photographs that are in the public domain or licensed for reuse, and illustrations made for the site. Every image is credited under it.
Corrections
If we get something wrong, we fix it and add a note at the end of the article saying what changed and when. Small fixes like a typo don’t get a note. Spotted a mistake? Tell us at hello@backthendaily.com.