I finished my graduate coursework (wince) 14 years ago.  My advisor, Mary
Beaudry, taught a wonderful course on Historic Documents (I am afraid I don't
remember the exact title of the course).  The class, although taught in an
archaeology department, taught us to examine historic documents from many
perspectives.  One theme of the class was to carefuly read historic documents and
consider the data from many perspectives, particularly that of the person writing it
and the cultural milieu in which they operated.  To this day, when working
with historic documents I thank god I took that course.

Leslie A. Mead