Historical Method

Source: Prof. Rina

Orillos-Juan, De La
Salle University
 The Historical Method

…process of critically examining

and analyzing the records and
survivals of the past.
• Agreed ground rules for
researching and writing academic
research or professional history;

• Core protocols historians use for

handling sources
 Historical Sources

Sources- are objects (tangible

objects) from the past or testimony
concerning the past on which
historians depend in order to create
their own depiction of that past.
Howell and Prevenier,
Sources: An Introduction to Historical Method.
 Written Sources
1. Published materials

• Books, magazines, journals,

• Travelogue
• transcription of speeches
 Written Sources
2. Manuscript [any handwritten or typed
record that has not been printed]

• Archival materials
• Memoirs, diary
 NON-WRITTEN SOURCES

• Oral history
• Artifact
• Ruins
• Fossils
• Art works
• Video recordings
• Audio recordings
 What are Primary Sources?

• Testimony of an eyewitness

• A primary source must have been

produced by a contemporary of the
event it narrates.
 What are Primary Sources?
• a document or physical object which was
• written or created during the time under
study;

• these sources were present during an

experience or time period and offer
an inside view of a particular event.

• http://www.yale.edu/collections_collaborative/primarysources/primarysources.html
 What are Primary Sources?
• Primary sources provide first-hand
testimony or direct evidence
concerning a topic under investigation.
• They are created by witnesses or
recorders who experienced the events
or conditions being documented.
 What are Primary Sources?
• Primary sources are characterized
by their content, regardless of
whether they are available in
original format, in
microfilm/microfiche, in digital
format, or in published format.
http://www.yale.edu/collections_collaborative/primarysources/primarysources.html
 Four Main Categories of Primary
Sources
1.Written sources
2. Images
3. Artifacts
4. Oral testimony
Primary Sources: Written Sources
Primary Written source
Primary Sources: Images
Primary Sources: (Documented) Oral
Testimony
• “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
leprosy.
Sr. Maria Luisa Montenegro, SPC
1940
 What are Secondary Sources?
• A secondary source interprets and
analyzes primary sources. These sources
are one or more steps removed from the
event.
• Secondary sources may have pictures,
quotes or graphics of primary sources in
them.
• http://www.princeton.edu/~refdesk/primary2.htm
 What are Secondary Sources
Examples:

• History textbook
• Printed materials (serials,
periodicals
which interprets previous research)
 What is Historical Criticism?
• In order for a source to be used as
evidence in history, basic matters
about its form and content must be
settled.
 What is External Criticism?
• The problem of authenticity

• To spot fabricated, forged, faked

documents;

• To distinguish a hoax or
misrepresentation;
 Tests of Authenticity
• Determine the date of the
document to see whether they are
anachronistic;
• e.g. pencils did not exist before the
16th Century
• 2. Determine the author;
e.g. handwriting, signature, seal
• Louis Gottschalk, Understanding History
 Tests of Authenticity
3. Anachronistic style
e.g. idiom, ortography, punctuation
4. Anachronistic reference to events
e.g. too early, too late, too remote
5. Provenance or custody
e.g. determine its genuineness
Louis Gottchalk, Understanding History
 Tests of Authenticity

6. Semantics- determining the

meaning of a text or word;

7. Hermeneutics- determining
ambiguities.

Louis Gottchalk, Understanding History

 What is Internal Criticism?
• The Problem of Credibility
- Are the relevant particulars of the
document credible?
• Verisimilar-as close as what really
happened from a critical
examination of best available
resources. Louis Gottchalk, Understanding History
 Tests of Credibility
• Identification of the author
e.g. to determine his reliability;
mental processes, personal attitudes
2. Determination of the
approximate date
e.g. handwriting, signature, seal
Louis Gottchalk, Understanding
History
 Tests of Credibility
3. Ability to tell the truth
e.g. nearness to the event, competence of
witness, degree of attention
• 4. Willingness to tell the truth
e.g. to determine if the author
consciously or unconsciously tells
falsehood
Louis Gottchalk, Understanding
History
 Tests of Credibility

5. Corroboration
• i.e. historical facts –particulars
which rest upon the independent
testimony of two or more reliable
witnesses
Louis Gottchalk, Understanding History
 Three Major Components to
Effective Historical Thinking

1. Sensitivity to Multiple Causation

2. Sensitivity to Context
3. 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,
• Inquiry into all relevant conditions
and circumstances that determine
the direction of human affairs.
 Sensitivity to Context
• Consciousness about how other
times and places differ from our
own;
• Bridging the cultural and temporal
gap;
• Interpreting the past using values
and beliefs of the past (historical
mindedness)
 Continuity and Change

• There can be “history” only when

there is change.