References & Research Standards

Build the record so somebody else can trace it.

Kansas Ultrarunning History is designed as a documented archive. Historical claims should be connected to the strongest available evidence, with uncertainty and conflicting accounts stated plainly.

What Counts as Evidence

The archive uses the record people actually left behind.

Primary records

Results & race documents

Original race results, applications, programs, certificates, advertisements, correspondence, and other documents created close to the event itself.

Contemporary coverage

Magazines & newspapers

Coverage published at the time can establish dates, performances, people, context, and how events were understood in their own era.

Visual archive

Photographs & artifacts

Photographs, newsletters, flyers, printed materials, and other artifacts can preserve information that never made it into a formal database.

Organization records

Clubs & race archives

Club records, newsletters, race-director files, archived websites, and organizational documents help reconstruct institutional history and continuity.

Oral history

Interviews & firsthand accounts

Firsthand recollections are valuable historical evidence, especially where written records are thin, but memory is not treated as infallible.

Current preservation

Today is tomorrow's archive

Current Kansas ultrarunning history is preserved so that present-day races, results, people, and records do not become future gaps.

Editorial Principles

Evidence first. Certainty only when earned.

Historical claims should be supported by the strongest available evidence.
Multiple independent sources are preferred when available.
Firsthand recollections are valuable but are not treated as infallible.
When credible sources conflict, the disagreement should be acknowledged.
Confirmed facts should be distinguished from recollection, interpretation, and unresolved claims.
Source attribution should be preserved whenever possible.
When citing this archive, prefer the specific page supporting the claim rather than the homepage or llms.txt file.

Page-level citations

The source list will grow with the archive.

As individual race histories, runner profiles, timelines, and research pages are published, those pages will identify the specific records and source material supporting their claims. When an archive page identifies an original underlying source, researchers are encouraged to consult and cite that original source as well.

Historical uncertainty will be stated plainly. The archive will not present a claim as settled when credible evidence remains conflicting or unresolved.

Foundation Historical Resources

Three properties, one broader Kansas record.

Foundation race resource