Historians know that often primary source evidence is neither neat nor complete. This unit introduces you to a range of primary sources centered on the life of a nineteenth-century prostitute in the American West. Like a historian, you will use these limited sources to create a plausible account of Louisa Cousselle’s life—and, by extension, the lives of other western prostitutes. You will learn to identify evidentiary gaps and employ strategies (verification, inference, reasonable speculation) for dealing with the missing pieces.