History

• History as reconstruction


  The process of narrating past events or history based on the available evidence
• Historians


  • They are many times removed from the events under investigation
  • They rely on surviving records (documents, artifacts, etc.)
  • They work with a very small and selective fraction of the past to reconstruct history
  • Their work is always subjective, there is no objective truth
• Historians


  • They are fallible and capable of making mistakes
  • They have biases - personal, political, religious, personal idiosyncrasies
  • Each has his own frame of preference - a set of interlocking values, loyalties, assumptions, interests and principles of actions
• Historical accounts must be based on all available relevant evidence and supported by facts or sources
• The reconstruction of the total past of mankind, although it is the goal of historians, thus becomes the goal they know fully is UNATTAINABLE
• Historical Method

  Agreed ground rules for researching and writing academic research or professional history<|>Core protocols historians use for handling sources<|>The process of critically examining and analyzing the records and survivals of the past
• Historical Method

  1. Selection of Subject

  2. Collection of Sources

  3. Examination of Genuineness

  4. Extraction from Sources
• 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
• Types of Sources

  • Written Sources (Published materials, Manuscript)
  • Non-Written Sources (Oral history, Artifact, Ruins, Fossils, Art works, Video recordings, Audio recordings)
• Primary Sources

  Testimony of an eyewitness<|>Original materials or evidence from the past<|>Created by witnesses or recorders who experienced the events or conditions being documented
• Categories of Primary Sources

  • Written sources
  • Images
  • Artifacts
  • Oral testimony
• Secondary Sources

  Interpret and analyze primary sources<|>One or more steps removed from the event
• Historical Criticism


  The process of determining the authenticity and credibility of historical sources
• External Criticism


  The problem of authenticity - to spot fabricated, forged, faked documents
• Tests of Authenticity

  1. Determine the date of the document

  2. Determine the author

  3. Check for anachronistic style

  4. Check for anachronistic reference to events

  5. Determine the provenance or custody

  6. Determine the semantics and hermeneutics
• Internal Criticism

  The problem of credibility - determining if the relevant particulars in the document are credible
• Tests of Credibility

  1. Identify the author

  2. Determine the approximate date

  3. Assess the ability to tell the truth

  4. Assess the willingness to tell the truth

  5. Corroborate with other reliable sources
• Effective Historical Thinking

  • Sensitive to Multiple Causation
  • Sensitive to Context
  • Awareness of the interplay of continuity and change in human affairs
• Sensitivity to Multiple Causation


  Every event or situation is the product of multiple causes or factors, short-term or long-term
• Sensitivity to Context


  Consciousness about how other times and places differ from our own, bridging the cultural and temporal gap
• Continuity and Change


  There can be "history" only when there is change
• “Only a part of what was observed in the past was remembered by those who observe it; only a part of what was remembered was recorded; only a part of what was recorded has survived; only a part of what has survived has come to the historian’s attention.
• “Only a part of what is credible has been grasped, and only a part of what has been grasped can be expounded or narrated by the historian,”
• A version of the past that cannot be supported by evidence is worthless
• Non-Written Sources

  • Oral History

  - Artifact

  • Ruins

  • Fossils

  • Art works

  • Video recordings

  • Audio recording