The Mission and Our Promise To You
Our mission is more critical than ever before…
When Chronicles of History crossed its first 1,000 followers, I finally introduced myself.
I wrote something that, looking back, probably explains the mission of this project better than anything else:
“Somewhere along the way, I became convinced that history shouldn’t just be a collection of dates we memorize. It should make us think. About courage. Sacrifice. Failure. Faith. Family. Resilience. Freedom. And what people were capable of when life demanded more from them.”
But somewhere along the way, I became convinced that history should be more than a collection of dates we memorize.
You can read my full introduction post, which put me on the map by clicking here.
History should make us think.
About courage.
Sacrifice.
Failure.
Faith.
Family.
Resilience.
Freedom.
And what ordinary people are capable of when life demands more from them.
That remains the mission today.
What Is Chronicles of History?
Chronicles of History is an independent American history publication focused on bringing the people, photographs, events and lessons of the past back to life.
We explore the American West, Native American history, frontier life, exploration, the Civil War, World War II, early American communities and the ordinary men and women who helped shape the country we inherited.
But the goal is not simply to tell you what happened.
The goal is to ask:
What can we learn from it?
History becomes far more valuable when we stop treating it like trivia and begin treating it like a blueprint.
A blueprint for resilience.
Grit.
Courage.
Leadership.
Sacrifice.
Faith.
Purpose.
And the responsibility each generation carries to leave something worthwhile behind.
History Is a Blueprint
The world we inherited did not simply appear.
Someone built it.
Someone crossed the mountains before there were roads.
Someone raised the first house where a city would eventually stand.
Someone fought the fire.
Someone planted the field.
Someone carried the rifle.
Someone buried the dead.
Someone raised the children.
Someone built the bridge without knowing whether the town on the other side would ever exist.
Generations before us endured hardships most of us will never experience.
That does not mean the past was better.
It was not.
American history is filled with injustice, violence, failure, broken promises, slavery, war, displacement and terrible human suffering.
We should never hide those things.
But neither should we ignore the courage, innovation, sacrifice, faith, endurance and leadership that also shaped the American story.
Both are true.
History is complicated.
That is exactly why it matters.
The American West Is at the Heart of What We Do
Much of Chronicles of History begins in the American West.
There is something about the frontier that strips life down to its essentials.
Water.
Food.
Shelter.
Family.
Community.
Courage.
Survival.
The West brought together explorers, mountain men, Native nations, immigrants, soldiers, ranchers, cowboys, miners, missionaries, mothers, settlers and countless others whose lives collided across an enormous and unforgiving landscape.
People like Sacagawea, Jedediah Smith, Jim Bridger, Frank North, Geronimo, Quanah Parker and thousands of forgotten men and women lived through changes that reshaped an entire continent.
Their lives deserve more than a paragraph in a textbook.
They deserve to be understood.
Native American History Is Western History
You cannot honestly tell the story of the American West without Native nations.
The Lakota.
Blackfeet.
Crow.
Shoshone.
Pawnee.
Cheyenne.
Comanche.
Apache.
Nez Perce.
Arapaho.
And many others.
They were not merely people encountered by settlers moving west.
They had families.
Governments.
Trade networks.
Languages.
Spiritual traditions.
Enemies.
Allies.
Hunting grounds.
Communities.
And homelands stretching back generations.
Their stories are inseparable from the larger American story.
Chronicles of History attempts to tell those stories with honesty, curiosity and respect—without pretending the past was clean or simple.
History Should Feel Human Again
One of my favorite things to do is stare at an old photograph. Read a 100 year old book you’ve never heard of, and really ponder what can we learn from this one picture or paragraph of a person we don’t actually know….
Sometimes for twenty minutes.
A cowboy standing beside his horse in 1888.
A Lakota family outside their lodge.
A young soldier preparing to cross an ocean.
Four sisters standing proudly beside a sod house.
A miner cooking the deer he killed that morning.
And I wonder:
Who were they?
What were they afraid of?
Who did they love?
What happened after the photographer packed up his camera?
Did they make it home?
Did they have children?
Did anyone remember their name?
Those questions are at the heart of Chronicles of History.
History happened to real people.
They laughed.
They failed.
They prayed.
They drank too much.
They fell in love.
They lost children.
They fought wars.
They built families.
They chased fortunes.
They made terrible decisions.
They endured things they never expected to face.
And when we remember that, history stops feeling distant.
It becomes human again.
The Lessons Still Matter
I believe history can teach us how to live better now.
Not by copying the past.
But by studying the character required to survive it.
Responsibility still matters.
Family still matters.
Courage still matters.
Faith still matters.
Community still matters.
Leadership still matters.
Doing difficult things still matters.
We live in an age of extraordinary comfort.
That is a gift.
But comfort can also make us forget how fragile civilization is—and how much responsibility is required to maintain it.
History reminds us.
God. Freedom. Family. Legacy.
My personal beliefs are simple:
God. Freedom. Family. Legacy.
I believe strong families matter.
I believe communities matter.
I believe servant leadership matters.
I believe freedom carries responsibility.
I believe people should learn how to do difficult things instead of constantly searching for the easiest path.
And I believe we owe something to the generations that came before us—and to the generations that will follow.
Legacy is not about having your name remembered.
It is about leaving something behind that was worth building.
We Do Not Romanticize the Past
Chronicles of History is not an attempt to pretend that everything was better 150 years ago.
It wasn’t.
People suffered.
Children died young.
War destroyed families.
Disease killed without warning.
Native nations lost enormous portions of their homelands.
Slavery existed legally in the United States.
Women had far fewer rights.
Life could be cruel and brutally unfair.
Understanding those realities does not weaken history.
It makes history more valuable.
We can admire courage without ignoring injustice.
We can celebrate accomplishment without pretending failure did not exist.
We can honor sacrifice while still asking hard questions.
That is what serious history requires.
We Believe Progress Is Possible
History also proves something else:
Human beings can improve.
Slavery was abolished.
Civil rights expanded.
Medicine advanced.
Life expectancy increased.
Technology connected a continent.
Communities rebuilt after wars and disasters.
People challenged institutions that once seemed permanent.
Progress is rarely clean.
It is rarely complete.
And it should never be taken for granted.
But history demonstrates that generations can inherit an imperfect world and still leave something better behind.
That should give us hope.
It should also give us responsibility.
Why Chronicles of History Exists
When I look at America today, I believe one of our greatest problems is that we have forgotten where we came from.
We benefit from institutions, freedoms, infrastructure and opportunities built by people whose names we will never know.
People who worked.
Sacrificed.
Failed.
Tried again.
Raised families.
Built communities.
Defended beliefs.
And endured uncertainty without knowing how their story would end.
Their history deserves to be protected.
It deserves to be understood.
And it deserves to be brought back into the light.
Chronicles of History is my small way of doing that.
Who Is Behind Chronicles of History?
My name is James.
I’m a man of God, husband, father, writer and lifelong student of American history and the lessons we can learn from it, so we can apply it to today’s world.
I am not interested in turning history into another endless political argument.
I am interested in the people.
The photographs.
The forgotten stories.
The complicated truths.
And the lessons buried inside them.
I want my sons—and their generation—to understand that the world they inherited came at a cost.
And that one day, they will be responsible for what happens to it next.
That is why I write.
Make History Cool Again
History should not feel dead.
It should make you curious.
It should challenge you.
It should occasionally make you angry.
It should make you grateful.
It should remind you how much human beings can endure.
And every once in a while, it should make you stare at a photograph from 1888 and wonder what happened five minutes after the shutter clicked.
That is Chronicles of History.
Preserve the stories.
Learn from the past.
Carry forward what still matters.
Make history cool again.
