HISTORY

• Distinction between primary and secondary sources:

  • Primary sources are original records of events by people who experienced or witnessed them
  • Secondary sources are records based on primary sources, explaining events through evaluation and interpretation
• The Magna Carta established the principle that everyone is subject to the law, including the king.
• Historical source


  An object from the past or testimony concerning the past on which historians depend in order to create their own depiction of that past
• Primary source


  • Enable the researcher to get as close as possible to what actually happen during a historical event or time period
  • Are original records of a certain event by people who have actually experienced or witnessed it
• Secondary source


  • Records based on primary sources
  • Explain a certain event of the past through evaluation and interpretation of the records created during a historical period
  • Written "after the fact" - at a later date
  • Author has studied the primary sources and interprets the "evidence" found in these sources
• Secondary sources


  • Textbooks
  • Journals
  • Commentaries
  • Biographies
  • Criticism or review of literary and creative works
• The secondary sources for the Philippine Constitution may include textbooks, annotations, and published opinions about the Constitution
• Advantages of primary sources


  • Provide a window into the past - unfiltered access to the record of artistic, social, scientific and political thought and achievement during the specific period under study, produced by people who lived during that period
  • Unique, often profoundly personal, documents, and objects can give a very real sense of what it was like to be alive during a lost past era
• Disadvantages of primary sources


  • Often incomplete and have little context
  • Students must use prior knowledge and work with multiple primary sources to find patterns
  • Analyzing primary sources, students move from concrete observations and facts to questioning and making inferences about materials
• Advantages of secondary sources


  • Can provide analysis, synthesis, interpretation, or evaluation of the original information
  • Best for uncovering background or historical information about a topic by exposing you to other's perspectives, interpretations, and conclusions
  • Allows the reader to get expert views of events and often bring together multiple primary sources relevant to the subject matter
• Disadvantages of secondary sources


  • Reliability and validity are open to question, and often they do not provide exact information
  • Do not represent firsthand knowledge of a subject or event
  • Countless books, journal, magazine articles and web pages that attempt to interpret the past and finding good secondary sources can be an issue
• Historical method


  • The process of probing primary sources that will be used in writing history
  • Includes source criticism which studies the internal and external validity of sources
• Historical sources


  • Documents
  • Artifacts
  • Archeological sites
  • Features
  • Oral transmissions
  • Stone inscriptions
  • Paintings
  • Recorded sounds
  • Oral history
• Credibility


  The quality or power of inspiring belief. Credible sources must be reliable and provide information that one can believe to be true
• Authenticity


  The proven fact that something is legitimate or real
• Provenance


  The sources of information, such as entities and processes, involved in producing or delivering an artifact
• External criticism


  Historians determine the authenticity of sources by examining the date, locale, creator, analysis and integrity of the historical sources
• Methods to examine a primary source


  • Linguistics
  • Archeology
  • Numismatics
  • Philately
  • Paleography
  • Cryptography
  • DNA Technology
  • Cartography
  • Radiocarbon dating
• Internal criticism


  Helps the historians determine the credibility of the source by studying the content to know its truthfulness
• Historical context


  • The broader social, political, and cultural conditions of a specific time period
  • The source's intended audience is typically considered part of the historical context
  • Provides background information that helps historians connect the source to other contemporary events and trends
• Aspects of the author's perspective

  • Background - a short history about the author's life
  • Point-of-View - perspective used by the author that determines the "distance" of the author to the narrative
  • Argument - the author's stand or opinion in the narrative
  • Attitude - reflects the mood and current situation/emotion of the author
• Contextual analysis


  Focuses on the external factors that influenced the creation of the sources
• Questions for content analysis


  • What are the main topics discussed?
  • What are the author's main arguments or points of view?
  • What biases does the author have?
  • What emotions does the author express?
  • What kind of language does the author use?
• Questions for contextual analysis


  • When and where was the source created?
  • Who is the author of the source?
  • What was the author's background and perspective?
  • What was the historical context in which the source was created?
  • What was the purpose of the source?
  • Who was the intended audience for the source?
• Aspects to consider in analyzing a primary source


  • Background of the author/creator
  • Background of the document/primary source
  • Content analysis of the important historical information
  • Contribution and relevance of the document in understanding the grand narrative
  • Relevance of the document to the present time
• Aristotle's view of history


  A systematic account of a set of natural phenomena. It is also an investigative work because people aim to satisfy their thirst for truth. History attempts to know the actions of human beings that were accomplished in the past
• Kasaysayan (Philippine history)


  An essential narrative with meaning to a group of people that is characterized by uniqueness and identity, largely based on their own language and heritage
• Relevance of history


  • Contributes to moral understanding
  • Helps us understand people and societies
  • Provides identity
  • Is essential for good citizenship
• Philippine depositories of historical sources


  • National Library of the Philippines
  • Archives of the University of Santo Tomas
  • National Archives of the Philippines
  • Archdiocesan Archives of Manila
  • Manila Observatory Archives
  • SIL Philippines
  • Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (CICM) archives
  • Portal de Archivos Españoles (PARES)
• The British Museum contains some historical sources written during the Spanish period in the Philippines
• Artifact


  Something made or given shape by humans such as a tool or a work of art
• Internal criticism


  The test of credibility, to determine whether a source is worthy to use by the historian in their study
• Factors that determine the credibility of a source

  • Competence of the source in telling the truth
  • Willingness of the source in telling the truth
  • Adequacy of data relayed by the source
  • Reliability of the source when corroborated by other independent sources
• According to Gottschalk (1950), in examining the credibility of a source, the historian or the skilled history researcher plays the role of a "prosecutor, attorney for the defense, judge, and jury all in one
• To him, any single detail of testimony is credible—even if it is contained in a document obtained by force or fraud, or is otherwise impeachable, or is based on necessary evidence, or is from an interested witness—provided it can pass the four tests enumerated above
• Independent source


  A source that derived its information from the occurrence of the event itself, where the author was there both in time and space and was mentally mature and conscious to absorb the building blocks of an event as they happened before his eyes
• Biases


  Can be seen in the author's (or eyewitness') perspective, affiliation, acclamation or appreciation of certain individuals and institutions, preferences, manner of description and worse, one-sided view
• Biases must be minimized in order that the account would not be considered a product of what is known as yellow journalism
• Basic Assumptions with Sources


  • Sources like relics, artifacts, remains, documents, and witnesses are accurate when proven to be authentic and credible
  • The authenticity of a source increases the credibility of that source
  • A primary source is more reliable than a secondary one
  • The credibility of a source is increased if it is corroborated by independent sources
  • Sources would tend to be bias, especially to its provenance or to the one who made it or held its custody
  • If sources like witnesses or their testimonies do not have immediate interest or direct involvement to the event, they become more credible than those who have interest or direct involvement
  • If all independent sources agree to a certain event, then the event becomes usually acceptable or factual
  • Testimonies of witnesses are credible if the witnesses are mentally and emotionally fit at the time of the interview or declaration
  • The source that does not conform to its milieu is considered a fabricated source
• What to Consider with Disagreeing or Hostile Sources

  • If two sources disagree with each other and there is no way wherein one could be examined over the other and vice-versa, the source with more logical reasoning and which accords common sense would be considered
  • If sources or witnesses do not agree on certain points, the source that gives more proofs to its authenticity and credibility becomes more reliable
  • If the source or witness is hostile, it becomes less credible. Corroboration to other independent and types of sources would be more necessary
  • A source or witness that holds orientation from one school of thought or philosophy—e.g., Marxism—is usually argumentative or hostile with other sources. Milieu of the source or the events tackled must be examined by looking at other sources that convey the same theme and that do not hold orientation from any school of thought