Meaning and Relevance of

History
History is the analysis and interpretation of the human past enabling us
to study continuity and changes that are taking place over time. It is an act
of both investigation and imagination that seeks to explain how people have
changed over time. Historians use all forms of evidence to examine, interpret,
revisit, and reinterpret the past. These include not just written documents, but
also oral communication and objects such as buildings, artifacts,
photographs, and paintings. Historians are trained in the methods of
discovering and evaluating these sources and the challenging task of making
historical sense out of them. History is a means to understand the past and
present. The different interpretations of the past allow us to see the present
differently and therefore imagine—and work towards—different futures. It is often
said to be the “queen” or “mother” of the social sciences. It is the basis of all
subjects of study which fall under the category of Humanities and Social
Sciences. It is also the basis of the study of philosophy,

History is the study of life in society in the past, in all its aspect, in
relation to present developments and future hopes. It is the story of man in time,
an inquiry into the past based on evidence. Indeed, evidence is the raw material of
history teaching and learning. It is an Inquiry into what happened in the past,
when it happened, and how it happened. It is an inquiry into the inevitable
changes in human affairs in the past and the ways these changes affect,
influence or determine the patterns of life in the society. History is, or
should be an attempt to re-think the past. Collingwood (1945) is particularly
interested in this concept of history. History aims at helping students to
understand the present existing social, political, religious and economic conditions
of the people. Without the knowledge of history we cannot have the background of
our religion, customs institutions, administration and so on. The teaching of
history helps the students to explain the present, to analyze it and to trace its
course. Cause-and-effect relationship between the past and the present is
lively presented in the history. History thus helps us to understand the
present day problems both at the national and international level accurately
and objectively

Distinction between Primary

and Secondary Sources
A primary source is any object, image, or written material that has survived from the
past, and that tells us something about the past. Because primary sources were created
when or soon after the events happened, they are usually more useful to historians than
secondary sources. Primary sources reproduced electronically (digitized) are still primary
sources: they record the original words, images, or objects created by people who were
present at the time

Examples of primary sources include:

 Written materials: books, stories, and myths written at the time;

 Images: art, including paintings, sketches, calligraphy, sculptures, decorative
designs; maps; photographs
 Objects or artifacts: burial sites, clothing, pottery and baskets, crafts, tools,
weapons, buildings and furniture, instruments, items constructed by people living at
that time. Artifacts are the physical evidence of the past: archeologists who study
them call them the “material culture” of past societies.
 Recordings (for modern societies): films, video footage, sound recordings on tape,
records, and CDs produced at that time
  Other: oral stories, songs, music, and dance, passed on through generations and
performed by people who were present at the time.

A secondary source is any image or description of an event or place that has been made
some time after the events, usually by someone who was not there.

Examples of secondary sources include:

• History textbooks, stories, or accounts of the past written by someone who was not
there, encyclopedias, historical articles, and interpretations

• Pieces of art, literature, music, or dance created later to represent life in that time
period

• Recordings or recreations of past events; artifact reproductions based on theories about

the past, et cetera

 Primary sources often give a more genuine picture of life from another time
period. However, primary sources (like secondary sources) may have a biased
view of past events. Written primary sources often include opinions, attitudes, and
values that reflect the biases and world views of a particular group living in a
particular time

External and Internal

Criticism
 EXTERNAL CRITICISM is that part of the historical method which determines the
authenticity of the source. Its genuineness must be tested, where possible, by
paleographical and diplomatic criticism. It must be localized in time and place. It
must be ascertained, whether in its present state it exists exactly as its author left
it. In order to test its genuineness, the student must ask himself if it is what it
appears to be or if it is a forgery. The document must be viewed from every
 possible angle. Its agreement or disagreement with facts known from other genuine
sources of the same place and period, or on the same subject, will often be a
deciding factor in its authenticity.

 INTERNAL CRITICISM is that part of the historical method which determines the
historicity of the facts contained in the document. It is not of absolute necessity
that the document be proven genuine; even forgeries or documents with truncated
truths may contain available material. But before any conclusion is admissible, the
facts contained in the document must be tested. In order to determine the value of
these facts, the character of the sources, the knowledge of the author, and the
influences prevalent at the time of writing must be carefully investigated. We must
first be certain that we know exactly what the author said and that we understand
what he wrote as he understood it. It would be misleading,

I. External Criticism.
1. Testing the Genuineness of the Source.
2. Localizing it (time, place, author).
3. Analyzing it (Recension and Restoration of text).
- refers to the legitimacy or authenticity of the document that a researcher
uses in a historical study. The purpose of external criticism is to identify the
genuineness of a document.

II Internal Criticism.
1. Determining the value of the Source.
2. Interpretation of the source.
3. Establishment of the facts.
- refers to the accuracy of the contents within a document and refers to
what the document says.

Repositories and Primary

Sources and Different Kinds of
 Primary Sources
 Archives and manuscript
material
 Photographs, audio
recordings, video recordings,
films
 Journals, letters and diaries
 Speeches
 Scrapbooks
 Published books,
newspapers and magazine
clippings published at the
time
 Government publications
 Oral histories
 Records of organizations
 Autobiographies and
memoirs
 Printed ephemera
 Artifacts, e.g. Clothing,
costumes, furniture
 Research data, e.g. Public
opinion polls