When does a current event become history? As a historian of the late 19 th and early 20 th centuries, this transition has already occurred for the subject matter of my work. While new research can deepen my understanding of people, places, and events, very rarely does the historical landscape seismically shift under my feet. Colleagues writing about the late 20 th century—like those of us who lived through it—have a different experience. As new archival material is declassified, catalogued, and