ABSTRACT
Although it is not much fun, being wrong—publicly wrong, and in print—can serve a useful purpose. Error reminds us not merely of our own fallibility, it demonstrates that no single view of the past is not open to reinterpretation as new data comes to light. Changing time and attitudes alter historiographical interpretations, of course, and certainly scholars are far more interested today in the thorny issue of Thomas Jefferson and slavery than they were thirty years ago. But recent DNA findings about the paternity of one of Sally Hemings's sons shows us anew that no such creature as Historical Truth exists. There will always be a lost letter, a misplaced diary, or a drop of blood, that will change everything this profession previously believed to be true.
