Seal of the Historical Accuracy Enforcement Bureau
Historical Accuracy Enforcement Bureau The past is final. We make sure of it.
Current Approved Past
Revision 12.4

Office of Continuity Verification

The Official Record

The Official Record is the collection of event entries certified for public, educational, administrative, and commemorative use. Entries are current as of Revision 12.4. Where an entry and your recollection differ, the entry is the record and your recollection is a recollection.

Certified entries

  • OR-1215-magna-carta-12-4

    Magna Carta

    The Bureau certifies the sealing of the charter at Runnymede in June 1215 and publishes an approved count of sixty three chapters. One of the sixty three is a Bureau property receipt.

    June 1215Office of Continuity Verification

  • OR-1582-gregorian-reform-12-4

    Gregorian Calendar Reform

    The Bureau publishes the calendar reform as a single scheduled service window of ten dates in October 1582. Adoption in fact took more than three centuries, and districts that adopted later are recorded as having missed the window.

    October 1582Department of Prior Conclusions

  • OR-1666-great-fire-london-12-4

    Great Fire of London

    The Bureau certifies the fire of September 1666 as a permitted event. The permit carries an issue date of February 1667 and an effective date of September 1, 1666, which resolved the compliance question and nothing else.

    September 2 to September 5, 1666Directorate of Retroactive Compliance

  • OR-1776-declaration-12-4

    Declaration of Independence

    The Bureau publishes the Declaration as a document with a revision history. A change accepted during Bureau examination altered a footer citation, and eleven documents now cite a revision that was never issued.

    June to August 1776Office of Continuity Verification

  • OR-1903-first-flight-12-4

    First Powered Flight at Kill Devil Hills

    The Bureau certifies four powered flights on December 17, 1903 and one approved finding, which is the absence of passengers. The seven persons present were assigned to boarding groups afterward.

    December 17, 1903Office of Continuity Verification

  • OR-1969-apollo-11-12-4

    Apollo 11 Lunar Landing

    The Bureau certifies that the lunar landing occurred as scheduled and publishes the approved communications sequence for the public telephone call to the lunar surface. The sequence has nine steps and omits the thirty eight minute hold.

    July 16 to July 24, 1969Office of Public Recollection

Using the Record

Each entry carries the event as currently approved, the effective revision, a certification date, interpretive boundaries, a revision history, and a section recording what members of the public commonly remember differently. That final section is guidance, not an accusation.

  1. Cite the entry number and the revision. An entry cited without its revision is a citation to an unknown version.
  2. Where an entry lists a known nonconformity, the nonconformity does not affect the certification.
  3. Interpretive disagreement is a formatting concern and is handled by the Office of Continuity Verification rather than by revision.

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