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HISToRICAL DATA are sourced from artifacts that have

been left by the past. These
artifacts can either be relics or remains, or the testimonies
of witnesses to the past. Thus,
historical sources are those materials from which the historians
construct meaning. To
rearticulate, a source is an object from the past or a
testimony concerning the past on
which historians depend to create their own depiction
of that past, A historical work or
interpretation is thus the result of such depiction. The
source providesevid.ence about
the existence of an event; and historical interpretation is an argument about the event.
a
Relics ot "remains," whose existence offer researchers
a clue about the past. For
*tt example, the relics or remains of a prehistoric settlement.
Artifacts can be found where
relics of human happenings can be found., for exampre,
a potsherd, a coin, a ruin, a
manuscript, a book, a portrait, a stamp, a piece of wreckage,
a strand of hair, or other
archaeological or anthropological remains. These objects,
however, are never the
happenings or the events; if written documents,
they may be the results or the records
of events' Whether artifacts or documents, they are
materials out of which history may
be urritten (Howell and prevenier, 2001).

Testimonies of witnesses, whether oral or written,

may have been created to serve as
records or they might have been created for some
other purposes. All these d.escribe an
event, such as the record of a property exchange, speeches,
and commentaries.
\ The historian deals with the dynamic or genetic (the
becoming) as well as the static
(the being) and"aims at being interpretative (explainingwhy
and,how things happened
and were interrelated) as well as descriptive (telling
*hoih^pp"ned,,when andwhere, and,
who tookpart)' Besides, such descriptive data as
can b6 derived directly and immediately
from surviving artifacts are oniy small parts of the periods
to which they belong. A
historical context can be given to them only if they.rn
i. placed in a human setting. The
lives of human beings can be assumed from the retrieved"
artifacts, but without further
evidence the human contexts of these artifacts can
never be recaptured with any degree
of certainty.

ttlRITTE]I SOURCES OF HISTORY

Written sources are usually categorized in three ways: (1) narrative

or literary, (2)
diplomatic or juridical, and (3) social documents.
I
) Narrative or literature are chronicles or tracts presented
in narrative form,
written to impart a message whose motives for their composition vary
widely. For example, a scientific tract is typically composed
in ord.er to inform
6
Reaolrcs ru Pnrrrpplre Hrsronv
 might be intended
contemporaries or succeeding generations ; a newspaper article
such as a diary
to shape opinion; the so-calle d ego document or personal narrative
or memoir might be composed in order to persuade readers
of the justice of the
deliver a moral
author's actions; a novel or film might be made to entertain, to
teaching, or to further a r:eligious cause; abiography might be
written in praise of
or published
the subject's worth and achievements (a panegyric, a public speech
the lives of
text in praise of someone or somethin g ot hagiography, the writing of
saints). A narrative source is therefore broader than what is
usually considered
fiction(Howell & Prevenier, 2001)'
an existing
2. Diplomatic sourcesare understood. to be those which document/record
legal situation or create a new one, and it is these kinds of sources
that professional
"best" source' The classic diplomatic
historians once treated as the purest, the
is usually sealed
source is the charter, which a legal instrument. A legal document
or authenticated to provide evidence that a legal transaction has been completed
and can be used as evidence in a judicial proceeding in case of
dispute' Scholars
(such as kings
differentiate those legal instruments issued by public authorities
or popes, the supreme Court of the Philippines and Philippine Congress) from
thore i.rrolving only private parties (such as a will or a mortgage
agreement)'
hand and print
Diplomatic ,o*.u, possess specific formal properties, such as
and images
style, the ink, the seal, for external properties and rhetorical devices
for internal properties, which are determined by the norms of laws
and by
its own norms)
tradition. Such characters also vary in time (each generation has
and according to origin (each bure-aucracy has its own traditions).
Social documents are information pertaining to economic,
social, political, or
3.
judicial significance. They are records kept by bureaucracies' A few examples
and
are government reports, such as municipal accounts, research findings,
records, property
documents like these parliamentary procedures, civil registry
registers, and records of census'

]IOil.WRITII}I SOURCES OI HISIORY

(Jnwritten sourcesare as essential as written sources. They are two types: the material

evidence and oral ividence.

7. Material evidence, also known as archaeological evidence is one
of the most
as pottery'
important unwritten evidences. This include artistic creations such
je*elry, dwellings, graves, churches, roads, and others that tell a story about
the past. These artifacts can tell a great deal about the ways of life
of people
great deal about
in the past, and their culture. These artifacts can also reveal a
people especially
the socio-cultural interconnections of the different groups of
may
when an object is unearthed in more one place' Commercial exchange
also be revealed by the presence of artifacts in different places' Even places
valuable
that are thought to be insignificant, such as gatbage pits, can provide
information to historians as these can be traces of a former settlement'
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 Sometimes, archaeological sites that are of interest to historians are unearthed txtRclst 1.3

during excavations for roads, sewer lines, and big building structures. Known Name:
historical sites are purposely excavated with the hope of reconstructing and Course & Year: -
understanding their meaningful past. Moreover, archaeological finds such as coins or
Encircle the lett
monies can provide historians with significant information relating to government
1-. These are or
transactions during which the currencies were in circulation' Similarly, historians
can get substantial information from drawings, etchings, paintings, films, and
a. static s<

photographs. These are the visual representations of the past' b. descript

2. Oral evidence is also an important source of information for historians. Much

2. This eviden
are told by the tales or sagas of ancient peoples and the folk songs or popular
e. recordit
ritualsfrom the premodern period of Philippine history. During the present age, b. archaeo
interviews is another major form of oral evidence' 3. Historians <

best source.
PRIlllflRY I/ERSlJS SECOI{OHRY SOtlR[ES a. relic
There are two leneral kinds of historical sources: direct or primary and indirect or
b. remainr

secondary.
4. The thirdpe
whichmayi
1. primary are original, first-hand account of an event or period that are usually
sources
the enactmt
written or made during or close to the event or period. These sources are original
a. eschatc
and factual, not interpretive. Their key function is to provide facts. Examples of
primary sources are diaries, journals, letters, newspaper and magazine articles b. protoc(
(factual accounts), government records (census, marriage, military), photographs, 5. These histo
maps, postcards, posters, recorded or transcribed speeches, interviews with a. unwrit
participants or witnesses, interviews with people who lived during a certain time, b. reliabk
songs, plays, novels, stories, paintings, drawings, and sculptures' 6. Aproducto
2. Secondary sources,on the other hand, are materials made by people long after
the
a. minutt
events being described had taken place to provide valuable interpretations of b. social t
historical events. A secondary source analyzes and interprets primary sources'
/. lnlslsane
It is an interpretation of second-hand account of a historical event. Examples of
a. newsPi
secondary sources are biographies, histories, literary criticism, books written
by a third party about a historical event, art and theater reviews, newspaper or b. electro
journal articles that interPret. 8. Whatisthel
a. narrat
b. literatr
9. Thesearer
a. prima:
b. diplon
10. Which is nr
a. biogra
b. letters

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