Introduction to History - Archeology; artifacts

- Linguistics; tracing culture and

Primary sources
history
- Bridge between past and present - Science; DNA patterns
- Studying primary sources connects
The dynamism inevitability produced
the students to the historians,
various perspective
resulting to richer experience of
understanding and appreciation - What is history
- Why study history
Historia- knowledge acquired through
- History for whom
inquiry or investigation
All can be answered by; Historiography
Has existed around 2400 years ago, same
with mathematics and philosophy History
Historia became known as account of past - Study of the past
persons through written documents and - Event
historical evidence - Causes of events
- Historians’ duty to document Historiography
important individuals (monarch,
- Study the history
heroes, saints)
- How was a certain historical text
- Wars, revolutions, and important
written?
breakthroughs
- Who wrote the document?
No document no history - What as the context?
- What historical method was
History progressed and accepted
employed?
possibilities of valid historical sources
Question and issues in history
- Government records, chroniclers
accounts, personal letters - State use history to unite a nation
- Legitimize regimes and forget a
Historical sources are exclusive
sense of collective identity through
- Historical documents may be lost collective memory
burned or destroyed - History that has been taught and
- Elite vs commoners written is always intended for a
certain group of people reformists;
This historical loopholes in historical Spain, white man’s burden
sources were recognized by historians, not
written but the same time School of thoughts in history

- Oral traditions like epic and song. Positivism

Because of this breakthrough - 18th – 19th century

- Empirical evidence
History starts collaborating with other - No document, no history
disciplines
 - Historian were required to shoe - Subjectivity= process of historical
evidence. research, the research methodology;
selection and presentation of facts
Postcolonialism
History is always subjective
- Early 20th century
- Colonies go away from the shadows - Can history still be considered as an
of their colonial past academic and scientific history
- 2 things
Historical research
- Tell their own history, highlights
identity of free from colonial powers - Requires rigor and technicalities
- Criticize the methods, and effects of - Historical methodology comprises
colonialism certain techniques historians follow
- To properly utilize sources and
History is always written by victors
historical evidence
More dominant player - There are historical methods applied
in writing history
Ex. Us is always hero during WWII and
- Historical claims shall be validated
Filipinos who collaborated with Japanese are
e.g., triangulation technique
traitors
The methodology of History
HISTORY
History as reconstruction
- If history is written with agenda or
heavily influenced by the historians, - Only a part of what was observed in
will there be absolute historical truth the past was remembered by those
- Is history an objective discipline? who observed it; only a part of what
- If not, is it still worthwhile to study? was remembered was recorded; only
- An exact and accurate account of the a part of what was recorded has
past is impossible survived; only a part of what has
- It is therefore the historian’s job not survived has come to the historian’s
only to seek historical facts but also attention “only a part of what is
to interpret them. credible has been grasped and only a
- The historian is not a blank paper part of what has been grasped can be
that mechanically interprets and expounded or narrated by the
analyzes historical facts historian
- He is a person of his own, influences
What is historical method
by his context, environment,
ideology, education, and influences - Historians have to verify sources to
among others date them, locate their place, or
- Thus, his interpretation might have origin and identify their intended
affected by any of the functions
aforementioned - The process of critically examining
and analyzing the records and
survivals of the past
Sources they are available in original format,
in microfilm/microfiche in digital
- An object from the past or testimony
format or in published format
concerning the past on which
historians depend in order to create Four main categories of primary sources
their own depiction of the past
1. Written sources
Tangible 2. Images
3. Artifacts
- Remain of the past
4. Oral testimony
Written sources
What are secondary sources
1. Published materials
A secondary source interprets and analyzes
- Books, magazines, journals,
primary sources. These sources are one or
travelogue
more steps removes from the event
- Transcription of speech
2. Manuscript (any handwritten or Secondary sources may have pictures,
typed record that has not been quotes or graphics or primary sources in
printed them.
- Archival materials
What are secondary sources
- Memoirs, diary
Examples
Non written sources
- History textbook
- Oral history
- Printed materials
- Artifacts
- Serials
- Ruins
- Periodicals which interprets previous
- Fossils
research
- Art works
- Videorecording Practical example
- Audio recording
Topic; Tejeros Convention
What are primary sources?
Primary source; Santiago Alvarez Account
- Testimony of an eyewitness
- A primary source must have been Secondary Sources; Teodoro Agoncillo’s
produced by a contemporary of the Revolt of the masses
event it narrates What is historical/ source criticism
- A primary source is a document or
physical object which was written or - In order for a source to be used as
created during the time under study evidence in history, basic matters
- These sources were present during an about its form and content must be
experience or time period and offer settled
and inside view of a particular event - External criticism
- Primary sources are characterized by - Internal criticism
their content, regardless of whatever
External criticism - The trustworthiness or the observer;
is the author lying or telling what he
Primary document
or she believes is truth?
- When written
External criticism
- Where was it written
- Why did it survive - The problem of authenticity
- Who was the real author? - To spot fabricated, forged, faked,
- Authentic documents
- To distinguish a hoax or
Internal criticism
misrepresentation
Primary document
Test of authenticity
- Eyewitness or secondhand account
1. Determine the date of document to
- Why was it written
see whether they are anachronistic
- Literal meaning
ex. Pencil did not exist before the
- Internal consistency
16th century
- Connotations
2. Determine the author ex.
Howell and prevenier enumerate the chief Handwriting, signature, seal
elements of service 3. Anachronistic style
4. Anachronistic reference to events ex.
- The genealogy of the document Too early, too late, to remote
whether it is original, a copy, or a 5. Provenance or custody ex.
copy, copy of a copy Determines its genuineness
- The genesis of the document, the 6. Semantics- determining the meaning
circumstances authority, and events of a text or word
in or under which it was produced 7. Hermeneutics- determining
- The originality of the document, ambiguities
whether it is innovating or merely
passing on already current Internal criticism
information
The problem of credibility relevant
- The interpretation of the document,
particular in the document is credible
the extraction of some kind of
meaning from it. Verisimilar- as close as what really
- The authorial authority of the happened from a critical examination of best
document, the relation of its author available sources
to the subject matter, whether,
1. Identification of the author ex. To
eyewitness, earwitness or even
determine his reliability; mental
further removed
processes, personal attitudes
- The competence of the observer; is
2. Determination of the approximate
the author qualified to repost and
date ex. Handwriting, signature, seal
capable of reporting critically and
3. Ability to tell the truth
with comprehension
4. Willingness to tell the truth
5. Corroboration