Lesson 1

History: Introduction and Historical Sources

A. Definition

 History refers to the study and interpretation by a historian on the data and other source
of the past human activity, people, societies and civilizations leading to the present day.

 There are three important concepts in the definition:

o First history as we all know is based on past events.

o Second it is interpreted by someone usually by historian. They gather,

discard and interpret the sources that they encounter.

o And finally and the most important history rely on data and documents which
historian call as historical sources.

B. History’s Subject Matter

 Like other social science the subject matter of history is the life of people and
humanity.

 But history has always been known as the study of the past. While this definition of
history is not wrong, it is incomplete.

 Etymologically, the word history came from the Greek word Historia which means
inquiry. Clearly the word Historia does not mean past events. It denotes asking question
or investigation of the past done by person trained to do so or by persons who are
interested in human past. We can say that historical account must be based on all
available relevant evidence.

 Therefore a version of the past that cannot be supported by the evidence is worthless.
Ever heard the taong-ahas story? The half human, half snake creature that supposedly
stalked the ladies room of one of the department store in Manila. The most famous
victim of this creature was supposedly the actress Alice Dixson. It happened three
decades ago when Alice Dixson was only 21 years old. Because it happened in the past,
would that story qualify as history? Or would that story classify as gossip or urban
legend?
C. History and the Historian

 Historian is an expert or student of history, especially that of a particular period,

geographical region or social phenomenon.

 There are many duties of a historian:

o These historians seek not only historical evidence and facts but also to interpret
these facts.

o He also gives meaning to these facts and organizes them chronologically.

o A person who must be able to recognize the evidence, decide how useful it is
and come to conclusion based on what he has found out.

o The historian therefore is responsible for reconstructing the past.

 According to Gottschalk, historian is many times removed from the events under
investigation.

 He added that only a part of what was observed in the past was:

o remembered by those who observed it,

o only a part of what was remembered was recorded; only a part of what was
recorded has survived,

o only a part of what was survive has come to the historian attention.

o Moreover only a part of what is credible has been grasped, and only a part of
what has been grasped can expounded or narrated by the historian.

 Some authors define history as a study of historical perspective. In reconstructing

the past, a historian can be subjective; after all he is human, fallible and capable error.
People’s memories are filled with bias, self-righteousness, pride, vanity, spinning,
obstruction and outright lies. Each has his own frame of reference or a set of interlocking
values, loyalties assumptions interest and principle of action.

 The historian is influenced by his own environment, ideology, education and

influence. His interpretation of the historical fact is affected by his context and
circumstances.

 It’s like the Indian parable of an elephant and the blind men, historians have different
historical perspective.
  Because certain events happened so long ago and because sometimes the evidence is
incomplete, historians have different approaches and views about what happened in
the past.

 This is the subjective nature of history, one historian claims an event happened a
certain way, while another disagree completely. The best approach is to do all we can to
reconstruct as fully as possible our picture of the past. To do this, most scholars use
historiography or what they call history of history.

 Historiography is the study of how history was written, by whom and why it was
recorded as such. It is concerned with how historians have presented history.
Interpretation about the past can be objective or true as long as they are free of inherent
contradictions, are not contrary to the laws of nature and are based on actual remains
from the time period referred to. There should also a scientific discourse among
historians on a particular controversial event. If an idea that say Jose Rizal retracted on
being a mason stand up to the critique of historian who are the skeptical of his retraction
then the idea must be true.

 One big advantage of historiography is that the liars of history are usually quite
transparent.

 Another way for a historian to be objective is to follow the historical method. It is the
core protocols historians’ use for handling sources. An agreed ground rules for
researching and writing academic research or professional history.

 An objective historian must verify sources, to date them, locate the place of origin and
identify their intended functions.

 It is important for a historian to base their accounts on source materials.

D. Sources 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.

Primary sources

 A primary source is a testimony of an individual who was a participant in or a direct

witness to the event that is being described.
  It is a document or physical object which was written or created during the time under
a study.

 Those sources were present during an experience or time period and offer an inside
view of a particular event.

 Primary sources are characterized by their content, regardless of whether they are
available in original format, in microfilm, in digital format or in published formal.

 There are five main categories of primary sources:

o It includes written sources, numerical records, oral statements, relics, and

images. The most common are written sources or documents. They are
written or printed materials that have been produced in one form or another
sometime in the past. They may be published materials such as travelogue,
transcription of speech, autobiographies, journals or newspapers (La
Solidaridad). They can be also in manuscript form or any handwritten or
type record that has not been printed. Example of these is archival materials,
memoirs, diary, personal letter or correspondence.

o The next category is the numerical records which include any type of numerical
data in printed or handwritten form.

o The third category is oral statements which include any form of statement made
orally by an eyewitness. It maybe through video recordings, audio
recordings, or transcribed.

o Another category is the relics or any objects whose physical or visual

characteristics can provide some information about the past. These include
artifacts, ruins and fossils.

o The last category of primary sources is the images. It includes photograph,

posters, paintings, drawing cartoons and maps

Examples:

Primary sources: Written sources

 Travelogue (The First Voyage Around the World 1519-1522)

 Newspaper (La Solidaridad)

 Archival Material (Vocabvlario)

 Memoir (Emilio Aguinaldo (1964) Mga Gunita ng Himagsikan)

  Printed Numerical graph (GDP growth rate)

Primary source: Oral statements

 “My first day was a scary one. There was a patient whose earlobes were so long...he
had no nose, only two holes on his face, and no fingers, only the palm of his hands...the
other patients were in different stages of deformity.” Sr. Maria Luisa Montenegro, SPC
1940

 Oral statement of an eyewitness to the Culion Leper Colony (A person interviewing an

eyewitness)

Primary source: Relics

 Artifacts (Balanginga Bells)

 Ruins (Church near Mayon volcano)

 Fossil (Callao man)

Primary sources: Images

 Photograph (Bud Dajo Massacre)

 Painting

 Cartoon

 Map (Murillo Velarde map c.1734)

Secondary Sources

 A secondary source interprets and analyzes primary sources. These sources are one
or more steps removed from the event. It is prepared by an individual who was not
direct witness to an event, but not who obtained his or her description of the event from
someone else.

 Secondary sources may have pictures, votes or graphics of primary sources in

them.
  Some types of secondary sources are history textbook, printed materials (serials or
periodicals which interpret previews research), biographies, nonfiction text such as
newspaper, magazine, journals, works of criticism and interpretation.

Tertiary Source

 The last kind of sources is the tertiary source. It provides third hand information by
reporting ideas and details from secondary source. An eyewitness is more reliable than
testimony at second hand, which is more reliable than hearsay or tertiary sources. This
does not mean that tertiary sources have no value, merely that they include potential for
an additional layer of bias.

 Some examples of this kind of source are encyclopedia, almanac, Wikipedia,

YouTube, dictionaries, message boards, social media sites and other search sites.