Reading in Philippine History

Lesson 2: Distinction of Primary and Secondary Resources

Historical Resources
Historian’s most important research tools are historical sources. In general, historical can be
classified between primary and secondary sources. The classification of sources between these
two categories depends on the historical subject being studied.

Category of Historical Resources

A. PRIMARY RESOURCES
 Primarysources are usually defined as first-hand information or data that is generated by
witnesses or participants in past events.
 Those sources produced at same time as the event, period, or subject being studied.
These materials are often located in the Special Collections of a library, rather than in the
general collection.
 Are characterized not by their format but rather by the information they convey and their
relationship to the research question. They include letters, diaries, journals, newspapers,
photographs, and other immediate accounts. The interpretation and evaluation of these
sources becomes the basis for research.
Examples:
If a historian wishes to study the Commonwealth Constitution Convention of 1935, his
primary resources can include the minutes of the convention, newspaper clipping, Philippine
Commission reports of the U.S Commissioners, records of the convention, the draft of the
constitution, and even photographs of the events.

The same goes with other subjects of historical study. Archival documents, artifacts,
memorabilia, letters, census, and government record, among others are the most common
examples of primary resources.

fig1. Philippine Event fig2. Philippine Artifact

fig3. Alibata
Reading in Philippine History

B. SECONDARY RESOURCES
 Those sources, which were produced by an author who used primarysources to produce
the material. In other words, secondary sources are historical sources, which studied a
certain historical subject.
Example:
The subject of Philippine Revolution of 1896, students can read Teodoro Agoncillo’s
Revolt of Masses: The Story of Bonifacio and the Katipunan published originally in 1956.

fig4. The Revolt of the Masses by Teodoro Agoncillo

We should not be confused between the difference of primary and secondary resources,
as mention above, the classification of sources between primary and secondary depends not
on the period when the source was produced or the type of the source but not on the subject
of the historical research.

Both primary and secondary sources are useful in writing and learning history. However,
historians and students of history need to thoroughly scrutinize these historical sources to
avoid deception and to come up with the historical truth.

The historian should be able to conduct an external and internal criticism of the sources
especially primary resources which can age in centuries.

A. External Criticisms - sometimes called as “lower criticism”

-Is the practice of verifying the authenticity of evidence by examining its physical
characteristics; consistency with the historical characteristics of the time when it was
produced: and materials used for evidence.

-Form and appearance and more particularly to question of authorship and textual
circumstances such as time, place and purpose.
-External criticism applies "science to a document." It involves such physical and technical
tests as dating of paper a document is written on, but it also involves a knowledge of when
certain things existed or were possible, e.g. when zip codes were invented.*
Reading in Philippine History

B. Internal Criticism - Sometimes called as “higher criticism”

-The examination of the honesty of the proof, it takes a gander at the substance of the
source and analyzes the condition of its generation. It takes a gander at the honesty and
factuality of the confirmation by taking a gander at the creator of the source, its unique
situation, the motivation behind its creation, the information which educated it, and its
planned reason among others.

-Inner feedback searches inside the information itself to endeavor to decide truth--realities
and "sensible" understanding. It incorporates taking a gander at the evident or conceivable
thought processes of the individual giving the information.

END