RPH

• The meaning of history is the study of events that happened in the past and the causes of those events.
• The word history was derived from the Greek word historia or “knowledge acquired through inquiry or investigation”.
• History also helps provide identity, and this is unquestionably one of the reasons all modern nations encourage its teaching in some form.
• Herodotus is known as the Father of History.
• Advocates of citizenship history hope merely to promote national identity and loyalty through a history spiced by vivid stories and lessons in individual success and morality.
• Studying History Is Essential for Good Citizenship.
• In its most basic definition, history is the study of events that happened in the past and the causes of those events.
• The classical Latin then acquired a new definition of history as “ the account of the past of a person or a group of people through written documents and historical evidences”.
• Prehistory refers to that period where information of the past were recorded in materials other than written documents, which may not be understood by a historian.
• Historiography deals with the study of history itself.
• History is inescapable as a subject of serious study, as it follows closely on the first.
• The past causes the present, and so the future.
• The art of writing history, as defined by Encyclopedia Britannica, is the writing of history based on the critical examination of sources, the selection of particular details from the authentic materials used in those sources, and the synthesis of the details into a narrative that stands the test of critical examination.
• History contributes to moral understanding.
• Peter N Stearns, in 1998, published an article with the American Historical Association enumerating the reasons why we should study history.
• History provides a terrain for moral contemplation.
• History provides identity.
• History offers a storehouse of information about how people and societies behave.
• Studying the stories of individuals and situations in the past allows a student of history to test his or her own moral sense, to hone it against some of the real complexities individuals have faced in difficult settings.
• History helps us understand people and societies.
• History helps us understand change and how the society we live in came to be.
• Primary resources are original records of a certain event by people who have actually experienced or witnessed it, produced while the event was happening, and are an original document or other material that has not been changed any way.
• 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 its intended purpose.
• Historical documents such as the declaration of Independence or the Constitution are primary documents as they were drafted and signed.
• Secondary resources are documents based on primary resources, written after the fact, usually by an author who has studied the primary sources of an historical period or event and interpreted the evidence found in these sources.
• Secondary resources can be almanac, encyclopedias, history books (textbooks), etc.
• Primary resources include published documents such as newspapers, magazines, books, reports, government documents, laws, court decisions, literary works, posters, maps, and advertisements.
• The fact that these documents are published does not mean that they are reliable, accurate, or truthful, the readers must comprehend not just the substance of the document but also the background of the author, as it may be written based on the author’s perspective.
• Documents such as diaries, journals, letters, wills, and other personal papers that are not published may be used as primary sources.
• Primary sources may also be unwritten and include oral traditions, oral histories, artworks, and artifacts.
• Traditions and histories or stories transferred through generations may tell us something about the past.
• Source criticism, according to Gilbert J. Garraghan and Jean Delanglez in 1946, asks the following questions: When was the source, written or unwritten, produced? Where was it produced? By whom was it produced? From what pre-existing material was it produced? In what original form was it produced? What is the evidential value of its contents?
• Unpublished documents, unlike published ones, may be difficult to locate as they are kept in private and hence, may not be easily accessed by the public.
• These documents are also confidential and are restricted from public use like personal letters, which are in the possession of the recipients.
• 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.
• Drawings, paintings, sculptures, photographs, and artifacts are some of the visual documents that may have captured historic moments and provide evidence to changes that happened over time.
• Accepted as primary sources of this kind are those that come from people who have actually witnessed or experienced the past events.
• Other unwritten sources include artworks and artifacts, which are visual documents that tell us several views of the past from the perspectives of creators.
• Historians determine the authenticity of sources by examining the date, locale, creator, analysis and integrity of the historical sources.
• Internal criticism is the examination of the truthfulness of the evidence, looking at the content of the source and examining the circumstances of its production.