Terms of Service

Last updated: August 24, 2026

Welcome to AsTheySawIt.com.

These Terms of Service govern your access to and use of AsTheySawIt.com, including its articles, historical collections, research guides, databases, tools, downloads, newsletters, and other services made available through the website.

By accessing or using this website, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree with them, please discontinue use of the website.

1. About As They Saw It

As They Saw It is an independent historical reference exploring events, places, and everyday life through contemporary reports, eyewitness accounts, newspapers, letters, diaries, photographs, maps, government records, and other primary and secondary sources.

The website is intended for educational, informational, and historical research purposes.

AsTheySawIt.com is independently operated and, unless explicitly stated otherwise, is not affiliated with or endorsed by any archive, library, museum, university, government agency, newspaper publisher, historical society, or other institution referenced on the website.

2. Historical Information

We make reasonable efforts to research and present historical information accurately.

However, historical evidence can be:

  • incomplete;
  • disputed;
  • contradictory;
  • incorrectly recorded;
  • subject to different interpretations;
  • based on limited contemporary knowledge; or
  • revised as additional evidence becomes available.

Content published on AsTheySawIt.com should therefore not be regarded as an infallible, exhaustive, or definitive account of any historical subject.

Important information should be independently verified using original records and other authoritative sources when used for academic, legal, genealogical, professional, or other consequential purposes.

3. Contemporary Sources and Historical Perspectives

As They Saw It frequently examines what people knew, believed, reported, or claimed at a particular historical moment.

Statements appearing in newspapers, diaries, letters, speeches, government documents, memoirs, eyewitness accounts, propaganda, advertisements, or other historical sources do not necessarily represent verified facts or the views of AsTheySawIt.com.

Historical sources may contain:

  • factual errors;
  • rumors;
  • propaganda;
  • stereotypes;
  • prejudices;
  • obsolete terminology;
  • incomplete information; or
  • claims contradicted by later evidence.

Their inclusion is intended to help readers understand the historical record and contemporary perspectives.

4. Intellectual Property

Unless otherwise indicated, original material created specifically for AsTheySawIt.com—including original articles, editorial commentary, website design, graphics, compilations, databases, research organization, and other original content—is protected by applicable intellectual property laws.

You may access the website for personal, educational, informational, and reasonable research use.

You may quote limited portions of original AsTheySawIt.com content when reasonably necessary for criticism, commentary, research, scholarship, reporting, or citation, provided appropriate attribution and a link to the relevant page are included where practical.

You may not, without authorization:

  • reproduce substantial portions of the website;
  • republish complete articles;
  • create a competing database substantially derived from our original compilation;
  • systematically download site content;
  • remove copyright or attribution notices;
  • sell or sublicense our original content;
  • present AsTheySawIt.com material as your own;
  • scrape substantial portions of the site for republication; or
  • use automated systems in a manner that materially interferes with the website.

Nothing in these Terms restricts rights that you may independently have under applicable law.

5. Historical Documents, Images, and Third-Party Materials

AsTheySawIt.com may display, quote, reproduce, describe, embed, or link to historical photographs, newspaper material, documents, maps, advertisements, posters, manuscripts, government records, and other third-party materials.

Different materials may have different rights statuses.

Some may be in the public domain. Others may remain copyrighted or may be subject to licenses, contractual restrictions, donor restrictions, privacy rights, publicity rights, or other limitations.

The National Archives notes that although many U.S. federal government records are in the public domain, not every item in archival collections is necessarily free of copyright or other restrictions.

Therefore, the presence of third-party material on AsTheySawIt.com does not automatically grant visitors permission to reuse that material.

Before reproducing an image, document, newspaper page, photograph, or other third-party item, you are responsible for determining its copyright status and complying with any applicable license, attribution, permission, or usage requirements.

6. Fair Use

In some circumstances, AsTheySawIt.com may make limited use of copyrighted material for purposes such as criticism, commentary, scholarship, research, historical analysis, or education.

Under U.S. copyright law, fair use is evaluated on a case-by-case basis using multiple factors. There is no fixed number of words, images, pages, or percentage that automatically makes a particular use fair.

Nothing on this website should be interpreted as legal advice regarding whether your own use of copyrighted material qualifies as fair use.

7. Acceptable Use

You agree to use AsTheySawIt.com only for lawful purposes.

You may not use the website to:

  • violate applicable laws or regulations;
  • infringe intellectual property rights;
  • distribute malware or malicious code;
  • attempt unauthorized access to servers, accounts, databases, or systems;
  • disrupt or overload website infrastructure;
  • bypass access controls or security mechanisms;
  • impersonate another person or organization;
  • harvest personal information without authorization;
  • conduct abusive automated scraping;
  • reproduce substantial portions of the site primarily to create a competing service;
  • manipulate website functionality or search features; or
  • use the site in a way that materially interferes with access by other visitors.

Reasonable search-engine crawling and legitimate research activity are not intended to be prohibited by this section, subject to technical restrictions and applicable policies.

8. Automated and AI Use

Unless otherwise permitted, automated systems should not access AsTheySawIt.com in a manner that creates excessive server load, bypasses technical restrictions, or systematically reproduces substantial portions of the website.

Limited analysis, indexing, quotation, or research use may be permitted where consistent with applicable law and our published technical directives.

Nothing in these Terms transfers ownership of AsTheySawIt.com’s original content merely because that content is technically accessible to an automated system.

9. Research Tools and Generated Results

AsTheySawIt.com may provide tools such as:

  • Historical Year Explorer;
  • Year + Place Explorer;
  • Historical Timeline Explorer;
  • Primary Source Finder;
  • Historical Newspaper Finder;
  • citation tools;
  • source-analysis tools; and
  • historical comparison tools.

These tools are designed to assist exploration and research.

Results may be automatically generated or assembled from multiple datasets and may contain errors, omissions, outdated information, incorrect classifications, incomplete citations, or other inaccuracies.

Users should verify important results against original sources.

10. Citation Tools

Citation generators and similar research tools are provided as conveniences.

Citation requirements may vary by:

  • university;
  • journal;
  • publisher;
  • archive;
  • instructor;
  • citation style;
  • edition; or
  • type of source.

Users are responsible for checking generated citations before submitting them for academic, professional, or publication purposes.

AsTheySawIt.com may link to third-party websites, including libraries, archives, museums, government agencies, universities, newspapers, academic journals, digital collections, and commercial services.

External links are provided for convenience, attribution, research, or additional context.

A link does not necessarily constitute endorsement.

The National Archives likewise notes that external links provided for informational convenience do not constitute endorsement of the external site’s opinions, products, or services.

We do not control third-party websites and are not responsible for their:

  • content;
  • accuracy;
  • availability;
  • security;
  • privacy practices;
  • subscription requirements;
  • advertising;
  • copyright status; or
  • terms of use.

Your use of third-party services is governed by their respective policies.

12. User Communications and Submissions

If you submit corrections, source suggestions, historical information, messages, photographs, documents, or other material to AsTheySawIt.com, you represent that you have the right to provide that material.

Submitting material does not automatically guarantee publication.

Unless separate terms are agreed upon, you retain ownership of material you own. However, when you intentionally submit material for publication, you grant AsTheySawIt.com a non-exclusive permission to review, reproduce, format, edit, display, and publish the submitted material for purposes associated with the website.

Do not submit confidential information, copyrighted material you are not authorized to provide, or personal information about others that should not lawfully be published.

13. Corrections

Historical research benefits from correction and continued examination.

If you identify a possible:

  • factual error;
  • incorrect date;
  • misidentified person;
  • inaccurate quotation;
  • faulty transcription;
  • incorrect photograph attribution;
  • broken citation; or
  • misleading historical interpretation,

you may contact us with supporting information.

We reserve the right to investigate, correct, clarify, update, annotate, or remove content where appropriate.

Submitting a correction does not guarantee that the requested change will be made.

We respect the intellectual property rights of others.

If you believe material appearing on AsTheySawIt.com infringes copyright or has been used without appropriate authorization, please contact us and provide enough information to identify:

  • the copyrighted work;
  • the allegedly infringing material;
  • the URL where it appears;
  • your relationship to the rights holder;
  • your contact information; and
  • any relevant evidence concerning ownership or licensing.

Valid complaints will be reviewed and appropriate action may be taken.

If AsTheySawIt.com later operates services that qualify for formal notice-and-takedown procedures under applicable law, additional copyright-notice procedures may be published.

15. Previous Versions of AsTheySawIt.com

The AsTheySawIt.com domain has had previous uses and operators.

The present AsTheySawIt.com is an independent historical reference project.

Unless expressly documented otherwise, the present website does not claim to be the legal, organizational, editorial, or institutional continuation of any previous publisher, organization, administrator, or operator that used this domain.

Current ownership or operation of the domain does not constitute a claim of ownership over articles, databases, photographs, documents, graphics, or other copyrighted works that may previously have appeared at AsTheySawIt.com.

Historical topics associated with earlier versions of the domain may be independently researched and covered again using new writing and appropriately sourced material.

16. Paid Products and Services

AsTheySawIt.com may offer paid products or services in the future, including research collections, historical dossiers, downloadable resources, educational materials, premium tools, or subscriptions.

Where such products are offered, applicable:

  • pricing;
  • payment terms;
  • renewal terms;
  • cancellation procedures;
  • refund policies; and
  • additional conditions

will be disclosed at or before purchase.

Additional product-specific terms may apply.

17. Newsletter and Email Communications

Visitors may have the option to subscribe to newsletters or research updates.

Where required, promotional communications will include an appropriate method for unsubscribing.

You may unsubscribe from optional marketing communications at any time using the method provided in those messages.

Operational or transactional communications associated with an account, purchase, or requested service may be treated separately.

18. Website Availability

We may modify, suspend, remove, reorganize, or discontinue any part of AsTheySawIt.com at any time.

We do not guarantee that:

  • every page will remain permanently available;
  • every historical source link will continue working;
  • every research tool will operate without interruption;
  • every feature will remain free;
  • archived materials will remain accessible; or
  • website functionality will always be error-free.

Historical collections and external archives frequently change URLs, access policies, and availability.

19. No Professional Advice

Content on AsTheySawIt.com is provided for historical, educational, and informational purposes.

Nothing on this website constitutes legal, medical, financial, investment, tax, professional, or other specialized advice.

Historical information about medicine, law, finance, politics, warfare, technology, or other subjects should not be treated as guidance for present-day decisions.

20. Disclaimer of Warranties

To the extent permitted by applicable law, AsTheySawIt.com and its content are provided on an as is and as available basis.

We make no guarantee that the website or its information will always be:

  • accurate;
  • complete;
  • current;
  • uninterrupted;
  • error-free;
  • secure; or
  • suitable for a particular purpose.

Historical interpretation necessarily involves judgment, context, and evolving evidence.

21. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, AsTheySawIt.com and its operators will not be liable for indirect, incidental, consequential, special, or similar damages resulting from:

  • use of the website;
  • inability to access the website;
  • reliance on historical information;
  • errors or omissions;
  • third-party websites;
  • loss of data;
  • research-tool results; or
  • unauthorized third-party activity.

Nothing in these Terms excludes liability that cannot legally be excluded under applicable law.

22. Indemnification

To the extent permitted by applicable law, you agree to be responsible for claims, losses, liabilities, or expenses arising from your unlawful use of the website, infringement of another party’s rights, or material violation of these Terms.

This provision does not limit rights or protections that cannot lawfully be waived.

23. Termination or Restriction of Access

We may restrict or terminate access to the website when reasonably necessary to:

  • protect website security;
  • prevent abuse;
  • enforce these Terms;
  • respond to legal requirements; or
  • protect other users or third parties.

24. Changes to These Terms

These Terms may be updated periodically to reflect changes in:

  • website functionality;
  • research tools;
  • services;
  • business practices;
  • legal requirements; or
  • editorial policies.

The revised date will be displayed at the top of this page.

Continued use of AsTheySawIt.com after updated Terms become effective constitutes acceptance of those Terms to the extent permitted by applicable law.

25. Severability

If any provision of these Terms is found to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions will continue in effect to the fullest extent permitted by law.

26. No Waiver

Failure to enforce any provision of these Terms does not constitute a permanent waiver of that provision or any other right.

27. Governing Requirements

Use of AsTheySawIt.com remains subject to applicable laws and regulations.

Nothing in these Terms is intended to remove consumer, privacy, intellectual property, or other rights that cannot legally be waived.

28. Contact Us

Questions about these Terms of Service may be submitted through the Contact Us page.

For copyright concerns, corrections, historical-source questions, or other website matters, please include the relevant page URL and sufficient information for us to review the issue.

As They Saw It
History Through Contemporary Eyes

By using AsTheySawIt.com, you acknowledge that you have read and agree to these Terms of Service.