1851 → 2026 / a historical research index

Follow the paper trail.

Explore the names found in 21,264,134 local archive rows from Eigen Times and Eigen Hacks. A name candidate, a confirmed identity, and a verified article mention are different records.

Eigenhacks / Hacker News

4,171,781 ↗

Distinct article IDs within this corpus · 4,762,682 stored rows across 238 partitions.

Eigen Times local news archive

16,488,269 ↗

Distinct article IDs within this corpus · 16,501,452 stored rows across 2,983 partitions.

Known-name research candidates

351 ↗

205 outside the documented graph (58% of these name records).

316 Wikidata-confirmed · 35 not yet confirmed.

NYT keyword discovery

106,907 ↗

Name-shaped candidate values, not unique humans. Article associations remain unreviewed.

41,221 matched to confirmed identities · 65,686 not yet confirmed.

Checked 106,907 of 106,907 candidate values; 0 await matching and 65,686 need review.

A Wikipedia and Wikidata match identifies who a candidate value names. It does not confirm that every associated article refers to that identity, or establish a professional relationship. Known-name candidates have separate date and context checks; the wider NYT discovery index is uncurated article evidence.

Identity statusHistorical graph

351 of 351 known-name candidate records. Identity confirmation and article qualification are separate checks.

Wikidata-confirmed identity / candidate article mentions

Thomas Edison

Wikipedia: Thomas Edison ↗ · Q8743 ↗

Open the confirmed identity record ↗

Wikipedia and Wikidata confirm the matched identity, not every article mention. Activity-date and context checks remove known implausible matches. Passing those checks does not verify that an article refers to this person.

Coverage through time

Year	Plausible mentions	Quarantined
2026	12	0
2025	13	1
2024	10	6
2023	17	3
2022	13	2
2021	19	7
2020	14	5
2019	16	6
2018	16	2
2017	11	10
2016	15	10
2015	19	9
2014	12	13
2013	8	14
2012	14	8
2011	14	19
2010	9	6
2009	6	17
2008	1	15
2007	1	8
2006	0	18
2005	0	9
2004	0	10
2003	0	16
2002	0	14
2001	0	14
2000	0	9
1999	0	14
1998	0	9
1997	0	9
1996	0	11
1995	0	18
1994	0	9
1993	0	3
1992	0	6
1991	0	6
1990	0	6
1989	0	3
1987	0	2
1986	0	4
1985	0	6
1984	0	3
1983	0	5
1982	0	3
1981	0	4
1980	0	6
1979	0	9
1978	0	1
1977	0	2
1976	0	3
1975	0	3
1974	0	5
1973	0	3
1968	0	2
1965	0	1
1963	0	1
1962	0	1
1961	0	1
1959	0	1
1958	0	1
1954	0	2
1953	0	1
1951	0	4
1950	0	1
1949	0	1
1947	0	3
1946	0	3
1945	0	2
1943	0	1
1940	0	2
1939	0	1
1938	0	1
1934	0	1
1932	0	1
1931	0	3
1930	0	1
1929	0	1
1928	0	1
1922	0	1
1921	0	1
1920	0	3
1905	0	1
1895	0	1
1894	0	1

Source references

Selected references from articles that passed the mention checks. Mentions may be incidental.

hn · 2024-09-09Synthetic diamonds are now purer, more beautiful, and cheaper than mined ↗
hn · 2021-12-10Sleep technique used by Salvador Dalí works ↗
hn · 2020-10-10Good sleep, good learning, good life ↗

What was scanned

21,264,134 stored rows across the two corpora. The distinct-ID counts below sum to 20,660,050; this sum is not deduplicated across corpora. Repeated rows and shared reporting are not additional people or independent evidence.

Eigenhacks / Hacker News

4,762,682 stored rows · 4,171,781 distinct article IDs · 238 local partition files.

Publication coverage: 2006-10-09 to 2026-09-05. Scan recorded 2026-10-01; later live editions can contain newer articles.

Source	Stored rows	Distinct article IDs	Partitions
hackernews	4,762,682	4,171,781	238

370 dictionary names were scanned. 55,200 articles contained raw matches; 52,467 had at least one plausible, still-unreviewed person mention.

Mention qualification results

Check result	Person/article pairs	Distinct articles
ambiguous name without context	3,297	3,268
before documented activity	7	7
plausible unreviewed candidate	62,009	52,467

One article can contain several names and appear in more than one check category. These are mention checks, not Wikipedia identity confirmations.

Eigen Times local news archive

16,501,452 stored rows · 16,488,269 distinct article IDs · 2,983 local partition files.

Publication coverage: 1851-09-18 to 2026-09-05. Scan recorded 2026-10-01; later live editions can contain newer articles.

Source	Stored rows	Distinct article IDs	Partitions
guardian	954,841	954,840	333
nyt	15,407,541	15,395,483	2,098
wiki-current-events	117,898	116,774	297
wikinews	21,172	21,172	255

370 dictionary names were scanned. 39,289 articles contained raw matches; 24,322 had at least one plausible, still-unreviewed person mention.

Mention qualification results

Check result	Person/article pairs	Distinct articles
ambiguous name without context	2,182	2,178
before documented activity	568	566
missing dated identity evidence	16,894	15,243
plausible unreviewed candidate	28,277	24,322

One article can contain several names and appear in more than one check category. These are mention checks, not Wikipedia identity confirmations.

Every locally available partition was scanned. The local NYT files omit 1978-09 and 1978-10; checks of the official NYT Archive API on 2026-10-01 returned HTTP 200 with zero articles for those months. Name extraction is not exhaustive. The wider keyword index uses a name-shape and technology-context heuristic; original keyword categories were not retained upstream. Candidate mentions never automatically become factual relationships.