# Journal Entry A Journal Entry preserves the vault owner's first-person memory, reflection, interpretation, or present understanding. It may concern a recent event or a much earlier period. The entry date records when the journal statement was made; the subject period records when the remembered or discussed events occurred. ## Provenance subtypes - **Retrospective memory:** remembered without a presently linked contemporaneous source. - **Memory supported by contemporaneous notes:** recollection linked to an original notebook or other dated record. - **Source-assisted retrospective:** reflection prompted or clarified by a recovered document, screenshot, message, or recording. - **Later synthesis:** interpretation developed by comparing multiple source layers. - **Uncertain recollection:** a memory preserved because it may be important while its date, participants, or details remain incomplete. ## Required distinctions A Journal Entry is not silently backdated to its subject period and is not inserted into a historical transcription as though written at that time. It should identify what is remembered, what is supported by a contemporaneous source, what is inferred, and what remains unresolved. ## Naming and metadata Use `Journal - Short Descriptive Title.md`. Record `entry_date`, `subject_period`, `basis`, related events, related source records, and evidentiary limits in the note. ## Navigation See [[Index - Journal Entries]], [[Archival Addendum]], [[Index - Events]], and [[Index - Master Chronology]].