LESSON 1

Definition and Subject Matter

 History- has been known as the study of the past.

 Derived from the Greek Word “historia” which means “knowledge acquired through inquiry or investigation”.
 It is the account of the past of a person or a group of people through written documents and historical evidence.
 It is also focused on writings about wars, revolutions and other important breakthrough.
 History as a discipline existed for around 2,400 years and is as old as mathematics and philosophy.

Definition and Etymology of history from different Historian

Burckhardt
 “History is the record of what one age finds worthy of note in another”.
Henry Johnson
 “History, in its broadest sense, is everything that ever happened”.
Smith, V.S
 the value and interest of history depend largely on the degree in which the present is illuminated by the past.
Rapson
 “History is a connected account of the course of events or progress of ideas”.
NCERT
 “History is the scientific study of the past happenings in all their aspects, in life of social group, in the light of
present happenings”.
Jawaharlal Nehru
 “History is the story of man’s struggle through the ages against nature and the elements: against wild beasts and
the jungle and some of his own kind who have tried to keep him down and to exploit him for their own benefits”.
 
Element of History
Politics, what government influenced society.
Economics, where money dominates and effect people. Most social classes are based on money and money is usually
what causes conflict in history.
Religion, a total impact on Europe during the 15th century. Religion is important as it affects one’s beliefs and thought.
Social, how the upper class, middle class and poor class communicate; and how they interact with each other.
Intelligence and knowledge has progress in history.
Art paintings and pictures produced throughout the course of time.
No Documents, No History
 It means that unless a written document can prove a certain historical event then it cannot be considered as
historical facts.

Valid Historical Documents:

 Government Records

 Chronicle Accounts

 Personal Letters

 Family Tree

 Biography

 Receipts

Discrimination in the Validity of History

 Restricting historical evidence as exclusively written is a discrimination against other social classes who were not
recorded in paper.
Question and Issues in History
 What is history?
 Why study history?
And history for whom

 Indeed history as a discipline has already turned into complex and dynamics inquiry.

 In simple terms, Historiography is the “History of History”.

 History and Historiography should not be confused with each other.

 Lesson from the past can be used to make sense of the present.

 One of the problem confronted by history is the accusation that the history is always a victor.

HISTORY AND HISTORIAN

 If history is written with agenda or is heavenly influenced by the historia, , is it possible to come up with an
absolute historical truth, is history an objective discipline? If its not is still worthwhile to study?

 These question have haunted historian for many generation.

 Therefore, it is the historian’s job not just to seek historical evidences and facts but also to interpret this facts. “
Facts cannot speak for themselves”.

 Historian is a person of his own who is influenced by his own context, environment, ideology,
Educations, and influence among others.

 Historical research requires rigor.

SOURCE OF HISTORICAL DATA
1. Published Documents
 Created for large audience and were distributed widely. (i.e. books, magazines, newspaper, government
documents, pamphlets, poster, laws and court decisions)
2. Unpublished Documents
 Personal in nature and may be difficult to find because of few copies existing (i.e. diaries, journals, school report
cards and business ledgers)
3. Oral traditions/ Oral histories
 Provide another way to learn about the past from people with firsthand knowledge of historical events.
4. Visual Documents and Articles
 Include photographs, films, paintings and other types of works. Visual documents usually capture moments in time

HISTORICAL SOURCES

 With the past history’s subject matter, the historian’s most important research tools are historical resources.

 In general historical sources can be classified between Primary Sources and Secondary Sources.
PRIMARY SOURCES

 Are those sources which we produce at the same time as the event, period or subject being studied.
Ex: If the historian wishes to study the Commonwealth Constitution of 1935. Historians must find and seek documents
that are happen on the exact or same date and event.
SECONDARY SOURCES

 Are those sources, which we produced by an author who used primary source to produce materials.

 In other words, Secondary Sources are historical sources, which studied a certain historical subject.
Ex: On the subject of Philippine Revolution 1896. Student can read Teodoro Agoncillo Revolt of the Masses the story of
Bonifacio and the Katipunan published originally in 1956.
The Philippine Revolution happen in the last year of the nineteenth century while Teodoro Agoncillo published his work
in 1956 which it is classified as secondary sources.

 Both Primary Sources and Secondary Sources are useful in writing and learning history.
EXTERNAL CRITICISM

 The practice of verifying the authenticity of evidence by examining the physical characteristics consistency with
the historical characteristic of the time when it was produced and the materials used for evidence.
INTERNAL CRITICISM

 On the other hand, it is the examination of the truthfulness of the evidence.

Other Method also used are follows:

 POSITIVISM
 Is the school of thought that emerged between the 18 th and 19th century. This thought requires empirical and
observable evidence before one can claim that a particular knowledge is true.
  Historians were required to show written primary document in order to write a particular knowledge is true.

 Post-Colonialism
 Is the school of thoughts that emerged in the early 20 th century when formely colonized nations grappled with
the idea of creating identities and understanding their societies against their shadow of the colonial past.
 Post-Colonial history looks at two things in writing history.
1. Tell the history of their nation that will highlights their identity free from that colonial discourse and
knowledge.
2. To criticize the method effects and ideas of colonialism.

 Annales School of Thoughts

 Challenged the canon of history, stating that history should not only be concerned of states and monarchs.

 Pantayong Pananaw- highlights the importance of facilitating an internal conversation and discourse among
Filipinos about our own history, using the language that is understood by everyone.

DECEPTION CASE IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY

1. HOAX CODE OF KALANTIAW
 One of the most scandalous case of deception in the Philippine History.
 The code was a set of rules contained in an Epic Maragtas which was allegedly written by Datu Kalantiaw.
 The document was sold to the National Library and was regarded as pre-colonial documents until 1968.
 An American Historian namely William Henry Scott debunk the authenticity of the code due to anachronism and
lack of evidence to prove that the code existed in the Pre-colonial History.
 
2. FERDINAND MARCOS as WW II SOLDIER
 This was widely believed by student of history and Marcos had war medals to show. This claim was disproven
when historian counterchecked Marcos claims with the war records of the United States.

The task of the historian is to look at the available historical sources and select the most relevant and meaningful
for history and for the subject matter that he is studying.

HISTORICAL AGENCIES
1. National Historical Commission of the Philippines
 The NHCP undertake the commemoration of significant events and personages in and safeguard the blazoning of
the national government and its political divisions and instrumentalities.
 It has five divisions:
1. Finance and Administrative
2. Historic Preservation
3. Historic Site and Education
 4. Research Publications and Heraldry
5. Material Research Conservation.
6. National Archives of the Philippines
 Government institution of the Republic of the Philippines mandated to collect, store, preserve and make available,
archival records of the government and other primary sources.
1. National Commission for Culture and the Arts
2. National Library.
Has complete microfilm copies of the Philippines Revolutionary Records; compilation of Aguinaldo’s Revolutionary
government; compilation of historical data papers.

LESSON 2
Introduction to History
History has always been known as the study of the past; it was derived from the Greek word historia which
means knowledge acquired through inquiry or investigation. History as a discipline existed around 2,400 years and is as
old as mathematics and philosophy. This term was then adapted to classical Latin where it acquired a new definition.
Historia became known as the account of the past of a person or of a group of people through written documents and
historical evidences. That meaning stuck until the early parts of the 20th century. History became an important academic
discipline. It is the historian’s duty to write about the lives of important individuals like monarchs, saints, and nobilities.

History also focused on writing about wars, revolutions and other important breakthroughs. It is thus important to
ask: What counts as history? Traditional historians lived with the mantra of “no document, no history.” It means that,
unless a written document can prove a certain historical event, then it cannot be considered as historical fact. Thus, there
are valid documents that are being used to record history like receipts, personal letters, chronicle’s accounts, government
records etc. There has also been discrimination on the validity of history; whereas, restricting historical evidence as
exclusively written is a discrimination against other social classes who were not recorded in paper. Others got their
historical documents burned or destroyed in the events of war or colonization. Nobilities, monarchs, the elite and even the
middle class would have their birth, education, marriage, and death as matters of the government and historical record.
But the peasant families and indigenous group did not give much thought on being registered to the government records.
There is a question lingering to our minds; does the absence of documents mean that people of no history or past? Nor
they even existed?

History as a discipline has already turned into a complex and dynamic inquiry. Thus, this produced
various perspectives on the discipline regarding questions such as: What is history? Why study history? These can
be answered through historiography. Historiography is the writing of history, especially the writing of history based on
the critical examination of sources, the selection of particular details from the authentic materials in those sources, and the
synthesis of those details into a narrative that stands the test of critical examination. The term historiography also refers to
the theory and history of historical writing. History and historiography should not be confused with one another. The
former is focused with the study is the past, the events that occurred in the past, and the cause of such events. While, the
latter’s object of study is the history itself (i.e., How was a certain historical text written? Who wrote it? What was the
context of its publication? What particular historical method was employed? What were the sources used?), so on and so
forth. Thus, historiography helps learners to understand more about history.

HISTORICAL METHODOLOGY: INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL CRITICISMS

 History is a meaningful record of human achievement. It is not merely a list of chronological events but a truthful,
integrated account of the relationships between persons, events, times and places. History is used to understand the past
and to unravel the present in the light of past events and developments. In this modern world, there are plenty of materials
that include history in it. It is important to explain the meaning and significance of those materials, and to elaborate,
analyze, synthesize and philosophize the ideas in the light of the knowledge we possess. However, historians and students
of history need to truly scrutinize these historical sources to avoid deception and to come up with the historical truth.
Valid criticisms can be done through External and Internal criticisms.

 External criticism is the practice of verifying the authenticity of evidence by examining its physical
characteristics; consistency with the historical characteristic of the time when it was produced; and the materials
used for the evidence. Example of the things that will be examined in conducting external criticism of a document
includes quality of the paper, the type of the ink, and the language and words used in the material among others.

 Internal criticism on the other hand, is the examination of the evidence. It looks at the content of the source and
examines the circumstance of its production. Internal criticism looks at the truthfulness and factuality of the
evidence by looking at the author of the source; its context; the agenda behind its creation; the knowledge which
informed it; and intended purpose, among others. For example, Japanese reports and declarations during the period
of war should not be taken as a historical fact hastily. Internal criticism entails the historian acknowledges and
analyzes how reports can be manipulated to be used as war propaganda.

HISTORICAL SOURCES: PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SOURCES

The most important research tool of a historian is historical resources. Historical resources can be classified into two
categories; primary and secondary sources. The classification of these sources depends on the historical subject being
studied.

Primary sources are those sources produced at the same time as the event, period, or subject being studied. For
example, if a historian wishes to study the Commonwealth Constitution Convention of 1935, his primary source can
include minutes of the convention, newspaper clippings, Philippine Commission reports of the US Commissioners,
records, draft of the Constitution, or even photographs.

On the other hand, secondary sources can be defined in two ways: it is anything about a historical event which
was created using primary sources, and/or which was one or more stages removed from the time period and the event.

A secondhand item; for instance, school textbooks tell you about a time period, but they are all secondary sources
as they were written later, usually by people who weren’t there, and discuss the primary sources they used when being
created. Secondary sources frequently quote or reproduce primary sources, such as a book using a photograph. The key
point is that the people who made these sources are relying on other testimony rather than their own.

Both primary and secondary sources are useful in writing and learning history; and in conclusion with that,
validating historical sources is important because the use of unverified, falsified, and untruthful historical sources can lead
to equally false conclusions. Thus, without thorough criticisms of historical evidences, historical deceptions and lies will
be highly probable.