Compiling and translating historical sourcebooks or anthologies can present specific translation challenges, including selecting source material, establishing translation teams, deciding on translation policy, and providing contextualizing information. Translating and editing Homoeroticism in Imperial China: A Sourcebook (Stevenson & Wu, 2013) involved a large range of text genres, treating about two thousand years of an easily misread aspect of Chinese cultural history. It is unusual to have a single translator or translation team in charge of an entire anthology, and this article begins with different skills that justify the “companion collaborative translation” approach throughout. The analysis then moves to areas of cultural and temporal distance and dangers of historical assumption, noting that sweeping sociocultural change in the 20th century left Chinese societies distant from aspects of their own pasts. Finally, it is argued that historical translation should be recognized by research bodies as fundamental humanities and social science research, providing valuable insights into human diversity.