MODULE I

INTRODUCTION TO
PHILIPPINE HISTORY AND
ITS SOURCES

Lesson 1 Meaning and Relevance

of History

Lesson 2 Sources of History

Lesson 3 External and Internal

Criticism
 INTRODUCTION TO PHILIPPINE HISTORY AND ITS

SOURCES  INTRODUCTION

This module presents the study of history in general and selects historical events in
Philippine History as topics to be discussed. It is hoped that you will learn to appreciate history
in general and Philippine history in particular as both science and way of life and the reason why
man exists today is because of the significant events in past. In this module, we get to appreciate
the beauty and richness of our own history and view them in multiple perspectives.

OBJECTIVES
After studying the module, you should be able to:

1. evaluate primary sources for their credibility, authenticity and provenance 2.

analyze the context, content, and perspective of different kinds of primary sources.
3. determine the contribution of different kinds of primary sources in
understanding Philippine History
4. develop critical and analytical skills with exposure to primary sources

☝
DIRECTIONS/ MODULE ORGANIZER

There are four lessons in the module. Read each lesson carefully then answer the
exercises/activities to find out how much you have benefited from it. Work on these exercises
carefully and submit your output to your instructor.

In case you encounter difficulty, discuss this with your instructor during the face to-
face meeting or contact your instructor through social media or any online modality.
 Lesson 1

Meaning and Relevance of History

I. Defining History

“History is not just a catalogue of events put in the right order like a railway
timetable”- A.J.P. Taylor

What is history? How is it different from other disciplines or other forms of writing?
How is it the same? Take a look at the following definitions of history. Which ones do you agree
with? Underline the best definition of history.

HISTORY came from the Greek terminology “historia” which means learning by inquiry.
It deals with the study of past events, the beliefs and desires, practices, and institutions of human
beings.

It is the study of change over time, and it covers all aspects of human society. Political,
social, economic, scientific, technological, medical, cultural, intellectual, religious and military
developments are all part of history. Usually professional historians specialize in a particular
aspect of history, a specific time period, a certain approach to history or a specific geographic
region.

History is…

A recitation of unrelated facts that do not contribute to a larger story.

An agreed upon set of facts or a forever-fixed story that is never subjected to changes and
updates.

A simple acceptance of what is written about a historical topic, event, or person. A simple

historical chronology of famous dates, incidents and people.

A strict reliance solely on the past with no examination of how the past has influenced the
present or how it may influence the future.

About one absolute truth, one particular perspective, or one set of facts and figures.

A chronological storytelling in its finest form; it sequentially weaves together many related
historical and contemporary events and ideas that are linked to a larger story.

Historians are individuals who write about history. They seek to understand arduous
historical research to come up with meaningful and organized rebuilding of the past. It is a
historian’s duty to draw insights from the ideas and realities that shaped the lives of men and
women and the society as a whole. Historians who write history emphasize the value of
primary sources, that is those sources actually dating from a particular time period, while
understanding the limitations of such sources. Non historians read books or watch documentaries,
while historians do that plus go to archives in search of original records.

No historian can be 100% objective, but historians try to recognize their own limitations
and biases. Historians try not to place the values, beliefs, behaviors, and attitudes of the present
onto the topics they study. Historians try to understand their topics in the context of how and why
people of that era thought and behaved, and not how people think and act today.

a. NATURE OF HISTORY

History is interpretative; it invites students to debate multiple perspectives,

offer their opinions and educated interpretations, and challenge existing beliefs.

History is revisionist in scope; it is an on-going conversation and a constant process

of reexamining the past and deconstructing myths based upon new discoveries, evidence and
perspectives.

History is a constant process of questioning; it requires questioning the texts,

examining them with a critical eye, and asking new questions.

History is integrative of many disciplines; it incorporates geography, literature,

art, sociology, economics, and political science.

History is inclusive; it ensures that the experiences of all classes, regions, and ethno-
racial groups, as well as both genders, are included.

History incorporates historiography; it includes many different interpretations of

historical events written by many different historians.

History is relevant; it uses past experiences to explain what is important in our

lives today.

WHY DO WE STUDY HISTORY?

Studying the past opens the way to better understanding how we came to be who we are
now. It is looking deeply into the roots of our society now. It gives us a wider and deeper
realization of why these things in the modern times exist.

Looking at the past lets us see the world through different eyes – which leads us to being
more appreciative on human diversity, traditions, lifestyle, culture, and beliefs.

IMPORTANCE OF HISTORY
✔ It helps people understand people and societies.
✔ It serves as an art and entertainment.
✔ It involves a sense of beauty and excitement and another perspective on human life and
society.
✔ It contributes to moral understanding.
✔ It provides identity
✔ It is essential for good citizenship.
✔ It encourages people to have a broad perspective.
✔ It is an access to the laboratory of human experience.
✔ It helps develop good social and moral values which are vital in a multi-racial society.

RELEVANCE OF HISTORY TODAY

✔ It enhances the ability to assess evidence.
✔ It strengthens the ability to assess conflicting interpretations.
✔ It provides experience in assessing past examples of change.
✔ It encourages the appreciation of various aspects of human heritage. ✔ It
inculcates reverence of the past and thereby developing a sense of belonging to the nation.
✔ It inculcates values such as loyalty, perseverance, propriety, people’s welfare,
religious tolerance, and racial harmony.
✔ It provides learning on how to appreciate other societies, their cultures and politics.
✔ It provides recognition of the fact that the way people see and judge things is
conditioned by the society within which they live.

HISTORICAL METHOD AND HISTORIOGRAPHY

The practice of historical writing is called historiography, the traditional method in doing
historical research that focuses on gathering documents from different libraries
and archives to come up with a pool of evidences needed in making a descriptive or
analytical narrative.

The process of critically examining and analyzing the records and survivals of the past is
called historical method. The imaginative reconstruction of the data derived by that process is
called historiography. By these, historians reconstruct.

Historical method comprises the techniques and guidelines by which historians use
primary sources and other evidence to research and then to write histories in the form of accounts
of the past. The question of the nature, and even the possibility, of a sound historical method is
raised in the philosophy of history as a question of epistemology.

THINK!
ACTIVITY 1 (50 pts.)

a. What role does history take in the study of Philippine society, culture, and
identity? (15 pts.)
b. Reflect on your own past. Make a timeline of your life from childhood up to now
by identifying only the most memorable and important events that happened in
your life. Use a fishbone diagram or any possible timeline format. (20 pts.)
c. From the timeline you made, how does your past influence your present being,
your identity, and behavior. (15 pts.)
Lesson 2

SOURCES OF
HISTORY

“To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain

always a child.”- Marcus Tullius Cicero
 Most historical source materials can be grouped into four basic categories:
documents, numerical records, oral statements, and relics.

1. Documents are written or printed materials that have been produced in one form or
another sometime in the past.
2. Numerical records include any type of numerical data in printed or handwritten
form.
3. Oral statements include any form of statement made orally by someone. 4.
Relics are any objects whose physical or visual characteristics can provide some information about
the past. (Fraenkel&Wallen, n.d.)

In studying and writing history, historical sources are much of importance. Historical data
are sourced from artifacts that were left by the past. There are two general kinds of historical
sources; direct or PRIMARY and indirect or SECONDARY.

PRIMARY sources are original, firsthand account of an event or period that are usually
written or made during or close to the event. These materials are produced by
people or groups directly involved in the event being studied. These sources are often tagged as
eyewitnesses, which include materials ranging from diaries, photographs, video and voice recordings,
legal and official documents, letters, government records, interviews with witnesses, drawings, maps,
sculpture, paintings, and published and unpublished primary documents, eyewitness accounts, and
other written sources.

Examples of primary sources include:

• Written materials: books, stories, and myths written at the time; witness reports;
journals and letters; government documents; newspaper reports; cookbooks; literature and
biographies of the time; written words from songs, plays, and poems of the time • Images: art,
including paintings, sketches, calligraphy, sculptures, decorative designs; maps; photographs
• Objects or artifacts: burial sites, clothing, pottery and baskets, crafts, tools, weapons,
buildings and furniture, instruments, items constructed by people living at that time. Artifacts are
the physical evidence of the past: archeologists who study them call them the “material culture”
of past societies.
• Recordings (for modern societies): films, video footage, sound recordings on tape,
records, and CDs produced at that time
• Other: oral stories, songs, music, and dance, passed on through generations and
performed by people who were present at the time

SECONDARY sources, on the other hand, are materials made by people long after the
event had taken place, mainly to provide valuable interpretations of historical event. This sources
are defined by Gottschalk as “the testimony of anyone who is not an eyewitness – that is one
of who was not present at the event of which he tells”. These are books, articles, and
scholarly journals that had interpreted primary sources or had used them to discuss certain
subjects of history.

Examples of secondary sources include:

• History textbooks, stories, or accounts of the past written by someone who was not there,
encyclopedias, historical articles, and interpretations

• Pieces of art, literature, music, or dance created later to represent life in that time period

• Recordings or recreations of past events; artifact reproductions based on theories about

the past, etc.

HOW DO PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SOURCES COMPARE?

Primary sources often give a more genuine picture of life from another time period.
However, primary sources (like secondary sources) may have a biased view of past events.

Written primary sources often include opinions, attitudes, and values that reflect the biases
and world views of a particular group living in a particular time. Neither primary sources nor
secondary sources are necessarily bias-free or error-free. Be sure to think critically about any
source you consult during your historical research. Keep these questions in mind as you do your
inquiry:

∙ Why was this item created?

∙ What was its original purpose?
 ∙ What does it tell us about life at that time?
PRIMARY SOURCES SECONDARY SOURCES
∙ created at the time of an event, or ∙ created after event; sometimes a
very soon after long time after something
∙ created by someone who saw or happened
heard an event themselves ∙ often uses primary sources as
∙ often one-of-a-kind, or rare ∙ examples
letters, diaries, photos and about a ∙ expresses an opinion or an
past event newspapers (can all be argument
primary sources) ∙ history text books, historical
movies and biographies (can all
be secondary sources)

THINK!

ACTIVITY 2 (60 pts.)

1. What are the main

distinctions between
primary and
secondary source? Identify
examples. (15 pts.)

2. Do you agree that all

primary sources justify
history?
Discuss your points of
argument. (15 pts.)

3. Read the excerpts about the TABON MAN then do a

comparative analysis on the different accounts
presented. (30 pts.)
Lesson 3 CRITICISM
EXTERNAL AND

INTERNAL

“If you don’t know history, then you don’t know anything. You are a leaf that
doesn’t know it is part of a tree.”- Michael Crichton

Many documents have primary and secondary segments. For instance, examining a
newspaper as a historical source entails a discerning mind to identify its primary and secondary
components. A news item written by a witness of an event is considered as a primary source,
while a feature article is usually considered as a secondary material. Similarly, a book published a
long time ago does not necessarily render it as a primary source. It requires reading of the
document to know its origin.

To ascertain the authenticity and reliability of primary sources to be used in crafting a

narrative, a historian needs to employ two levels of historical criticism, namely external criticism
and internal criticism.

HISTORICAL CRITICISM examines the origins of earlier text to appreciate the

underlying circumstances upon which the text came to be. It has two important aim. Firstly, is to
discover the original meaning of text ad its primitive historical context and its literal sense. And
secondly is to establish a reconstruction of the historical situation of the author and recipients of
the text.

TWO TYPES OF CRITICISM

EXTERNAL CRITICISM determines the authenticity of the source, which can be tested
in two ways; by paleographical (deciphering and dating historical manuscript) and diplomatic
criticism (critical analysis of historical document to understand how the document came to be,
the information transmitted, and the relationship between the facts purported in the document).

In external criticism, material must be investigated based on the time and place it is
written. It must determine whether the material is raw or unaltered and that it exists exactly as the
author left it. It answers concerns and questions pertinent to the authenticity of a historical source
by identifying who composed the historical material, when and where the historical material was
produced, and establishing the material’s evidential value
1. Does the language and writing style conform to the period in question and is it typical
of other work done by the author?

2. Is there evidence that the author exhibits ignorance of things or events that man of
his training and time should have known?
 3. Did he report about things, events, or places that could not have been known during
that period?

4. Has the original manuscript been altered either intentionally or unintentionally by

copying?

5. Is the document an original draft or a copy? If it is a copy, was it reproduced in the

exact words of the original?

6. If manuscript is undated or the author unknown, are there any clues internally as to
its origin? (Key, 1997)

Gilbert J Garraghan (1946) provides the following questions:

1. When was the source, written or unwritten, produced (date)?

2. Where was it produced (localization)?
3. By whom was it produced (authorship)?
4. From what pre-existing material was it produced (analysis)?
5. In what original form was it produced (integrity)?

INTERNAL CRITICISM determines the historicity of facts contained in the document. It

not necessarily to prove the authenticity of the material, however, the facts contained in the
document must be tested before any conclusion can be admitted. It deals with the credibility and
reliability of the content of a given historical source. Internal criticism focuses on understanding
the substances and message that the historical material wants to convey by examining how the
author frame the intent and the meaning of a composed material. In determining the value of the
facts, the following must be investigated:

1. Consistency of Data/ Character of the source

2. Knowledge and competence of the author
3. Influences prevalent at the time of writing (Time Delay)
4. Bias and Motives of the Author
 THINK!

ACTIVITY 3 (45 pts.)

1. Discuss the importance of historical criticism. (20 pts.)

2. Do you believe that writing history is subjective and has biases?

Why or why not? Explain your answer. (25 pts.)

MODULE
SUMMARY

History came from the Greek terminology “historia” which means learning by inquiry. It
deals with the study of past events, the beliefs and desires, practices, and institutions of human
beings. Historians are individuals who write about history. They seek to understand arduous
historical research to come up with meaningful and organized rebuilding of the past.

In studying and writing history, historical sources are much of importance. Historical data
are sourced from artifacts that were left by the past. There are two general kinds of historical
sources; direct or PRIMARY and indirect or SECONDARY.

To ascertain the authenticity and reliability of primary sources to be used in crafting a

narrative, a historian needs to employ two levels of historical criticism, namely external criticism
and internal criticism.

SUMMATIVE TEST (50 pts.)

1. Draw a picture of your worst experience then the caption
will be a story of what happened during that time. (30 pts.)
2. If you are given the chance to redirect/change such
experience, how will you do it? (20 pts.)