Understanding the past is always an act of imagination. In engaging with the past, we seek to recreate in our minds the interior and exterior contexts of past actions, and to convey this understanding to diverse audiences. The volume explores the role of imagination in researching and conveying these pasts, combining the elements of playfulness, experimentation, and rigour that are essential to bold thinking, and considers different ways to negotiate the relationship between speculation, creativity, and evidence. It asks urgent questions: What are the barriers to imagination in thinking, researching, and writing about the past? What is the relationship between imagination and 'the archive'? When might imagination pose a potential obstacle to historical understanding? How and why do we create imaginative pasts? The volume speaks to those interested in histories of archives, empathy, emotion, and the senses, and all who want to understand and engage with the past more creatively.