HISTORY
Primary Sources
A primary source is a testimony of an individual who
was a participant in or a direct witness to the event that
The study of past events. is being described.
refers to the study and interpretation by a historian on
the data and other source of the past human activity, Five main categories of primary sources.
people, societies and civilizations leading to the 1. written sources or documents. They may be
present day. published materials such as travelogue,
There are three important concepts in the definition. transcription of speech, autobiographies,
1. First history as we all know is based on past events. journals or newspapers (La Solidaridad). They
2. Second it is interpreted by someone usually by can be also in manuscript form or any
historian. They gather, discard and interpret the handwritten or type record that has not been
sources that they encounter. printed. Example of these is archival materials,
3. finally and the most important history rely on data memoirs, diary, personal letter or
and documents which historian call as historical correspondence.
sources. 2. numerical records which include any type of
numerical data in printed or handwritten form.
History’s Subject Matter 3. oral statements statement made orally by an
Like other social science the subject matter of history eyewitness. It maybe through video
is the life of people and humanity. But history has recordings, audio recordings, or transcribed.
always been known as the study of the past. While this 4. relics or any objects whose physical or visual
definition of history is not wrong, it is incomplete. characteristics can provide some information
about the past. These include artifacts, ruins
★ Etymologically, the word history came from and fossils.
the Greek word Historia which means inquiry. 5. images. It includes photograph, posters,
It denotes asking question or investigation of paintings, drawing cartoons and maps.
the past done by person trained to do so or by
persons who are interested in human past.
History and the Historian
Historian is an expert or student of history, especially
that of a particular period, geographical region or Secondary Sources
social phenomenon. There are many duties of a
A secondary source interprets and analyzes primary
historian. These historians seek not only historical
sources. It is prepared by an individual who was not
evidence and facts but also to interpret these facts.
direct witness to an event,
★ According to Gottschalk, historian is many
Tertiary Source
times removed from the events under
investigation. He added that only a part of .It provides third hand information by reporting ideas
what was observed in the past was and details from secondary source. An eyewitness is
remembered by those who observed it. more reliable than testimony.
Include potential for an additional layer of bias.
Ency, alamanac, wikipedia.youtube, dictionaries…..
Source of History
Historical sources are tangible remains of the past. It is
an object from the past or testimony concerning the
past on which historians depend in order to create their
own depiction of the past. There are three kinds of
sources namely: primary, secondary, and tertiary
sources.
1
Historical
fourth test is the anachronistic reference to events. For
example if the event cited in the document is prior to
the actual event, then the document must be forge or
Criticism fake.
fifth test of authenticity is the provenance or custody
It is also known as the historical-critical method,
of the document.
Historical criticism is a branch of criticism that
★ Provenance is the place of origin of earliest
investigates the origin of text or source in order to
known history of documents. It traces the roots
understand the word behind the text.
of any source.
2 Types of historical criticism The other two test of authenticity is the semantics and
hermeneutics.
External Criticism
This type of criticism looks for the obvious sign of ★ Semantics is the linguistic study of meaning.
forgery or misrepresentation. This type of criticism In this test semantics determine the meaning of
tests the authenticity of the sources. Since external the text and words of the source. We may ask:
criticism is concern with the explicit sign of is the meaning of the statements different from
misrepresentation, it is the first test the historian its literal meaning?
employ to ascertain sources validity.
★ Hermeneutics on the other hand is theory and
Test of Authenticity methodology of interpretation. Hermeneutics
first step to test a source is to determine the date of is more than interpretation or method used
document to see whether it is anachronistic. when immediate comprehension fails. In
historical criticism we determine ambiguities
★ Anachronism means out of time or order, which are a word or expression that can be
something that could not have been there at understood in two or more possible ways.
that particular time. Historians may look also if the statement is
meant to be ironic (i.e. mean other than what it
second step is to determine the author’s handwriting, says)
signature or seal. Obvious sign of forgery in include
patch writing, hesitation as revealed by ink blobs, Internal Criticism
pauses in the writing, tremor causing poor line quality This type of criticism looks for deeper or more intense
and erasures.. Example of this is the handwriting in the study of sources. This type of criticism tests the
alleged retraction letter of Jose Rizal. credibility of the source.
third test in determining the authenticity of the source Test of Credibility
is by looking for the anachronistic style. first step is the identification of the author. It
determines if the witness is reliable or if he is
★ An idiom is an expression, word or phrase that consistent by comparing his other works.
has a figurative meaning conventionally
understood by native speakers. When we say second step in testing the credibility of the eyewitness
‘break a leg’ we all know that it means good is to determine the approximate date.
luck.
★ Orthography is a set of conventions for third step in testing the credibility of the source is its
writing a language. It includes norms of ability to tell the truth. Historians examine how near an
spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word eyewitness is to the event.
breaks, emphasis and punctuation.
fourth step is the willingness to tell the truth. If the
eyewitness is coerced, forced or somebody threaten
2
him to tell something then his account is not valid. If ★ First look for corroboration between research
the eyewitness wants to hide something for personal you gather from the internet and the primary
reason. source that our instructor given to you.
★ Next analyze the primary source, look for bias.
last step is to look for corroboration. This particular ★ Next analyze the historical perspective or a
step rest upon the independent testimony of two or point of view a creator describe the event.
more reliable sources. The words independent ★ Last task is to analyz the historical context of
testimony must be emphasize. document.
Main Topic II: Content and
Contextual Analysis of
Selected Primary Sources
Background of the Author/Creator First the
researcher must provide brief biographical sketch of
the author or creator of the primary source. Family
background, educational attainment, religion and many
others shall be given priority in presenting the
biography of theauthor. Special attention must also be
given to the first four steps of the test of credibility
discussed in the previous module.
Background of the Document/Primary
Source
★ Basic background of the source like the type of
primary source, how many parts or chapter,
how long is the document shall be given
attention.
★ Next is to locate where the primary source can
be found. The repository of primary sources
may be found in the library, archive, museum,
historical society or special collection of
private individuals.
★ To check the authenticity of the source, check
the provenance or origin of the said document.
★ Next task is to look for the purpose or motive
of the source. How do you discover the
purpose or the reason it was originally made?
First understand the historical context.
★ Next is to do background research. Then look
at important historical event at the time the
source was made.
★ Finally ascertain intended audience.
Content analagyisi of the important
historical information found in the
document:
