Readings in Philippine
why and how things happened and were interrelated)
History
◌ The study and writing of history can be traced back
from the Greek tradition
◌ English word “history” derived from Greek word
noun – “historia” meaning “learning” or knowing by
inquiry.
◌ Herodotus is considered as the father of history
◌ For Aristotle – history meant a systematic account
of a set of natural phenomena
◌ In the course of time, Latin word “scientia” or
science came to be used more regularly to
designate non-chronological systematic accounts of
natural phenomena
◌ Now a common definition – “History” as “the past
of mankind”
◌ The past of mankind for the most part is beyond
recall; even those who are blessed with the best
memories cannot re-create their own past.
◌ “fortiori” – the experience of generation long dead,
most of whom left no records or whose records, if
they exist, have never been disturbed, is beyond
the possibility of total recollection.
◌ The reconstruction of the total past of mankind for
the historians is totally unattainable.
♥ Sometimes objects like ruins and other artifacts
survive from the past, otherwise, the facts of history
are derived from testimony and therefore are facts
of meaning. They exist only in observer’s or
historian’s mind and thus may be called “subjective”.
♥ There is a prejudice against “subjective” knowledge
as inferior to “objective” knowledge, largely because
the word “subjective” has also come to mean
“illusory” or “based upon personal considerations”,
hence either “untrue” or “biased”.
□ Artifacts are the results of events; written documents
may be the results or the records of events. Whether
artifacts or documents, they are raw materials out of
which history may be written.
□ The historian aims at being interpretative (explaining
as well as descriptive (telling what happened, when
and where, and who took part).
o A historian tries to get as close an approximation to
the truth about the past as constant correction of
his mental images will allow.
o The historian’s responsibility shifts to that of re-
creating a verisimilar image of as much of the past
as the evidence makes recoverable. (Verisimilar is
“like true,” but is not necessarily actually true)
Historical method – the process of critically examining and
analyzing the records and survivals of the past.
Historiography (the writing of history) – the imaginative
reconstruction of the past from the data derived by that
process.
• Both historical method and historiography helps
historians to reconstruct as much of the past of
mankind as they can.
• The historian must be sure that his records really
come from the past and that his imagination is
directed toward re-creation and not creation.
These limits distinguish history from fiction, poetry,
drama, and fantasy.
Written and oral sources are divided into two kinds:
primary and secondary.
1. A primary source is the testimony of an eyewitness,
or of a witness by any other of the senses, or of a
mechanical device like Dictaphone – that is, of one
who or that which was present at the events of
which he or it tells (eyewitness). A primary source
does not need to be original.
2. A secondary source is the testimony of anyone who
is not an eyewitness – that is, of one who was not
present at the events of which he tells.
What’s the difference between them? important to the historian. A document may be called
“original”:
Primary Sources Secondary Sources
Definition: Main text or Definition: records 1. because it contains fresh and creative ideas
work that you are generated by an event but 2. because it is not translated from the language in
discussing, actual data or written by non-participants which it was first written
research results, or in the events. Based 3. because it is in its earliest, unpolished stage
historical documents. Also: on/derived from primary 4. because its text is the approved text, unmodified
first-hand testimony sources but they have been and untampered with
interpreted, or analyzed
5. because it is the earliest available source of the
Examples Examples
information it provides.
Diaries, journals, speeches, Encyclopedias, chronologies,
interviews, letters, memos, fact books  These five meanings of the word may overlap, but
manuscripts, memoires, they are not synonymous.
autobiography, government Biographies, monographs,  It should be remembered that the historian when
records, records of dissertations analyzing sources is interested chiefly in particulars
organization. and that he asks particularly whether it is based on
General histories first-hand or second-hand testimony.
Published material (books  Sources whether primary or secondary, are
and newspaper articles) Most journal articles important to the historian because they contain
written at the time about a (except those discussed in primary particulars. The particulars they furnish are
particular event column one)
trustworthy not because of the book or article or
report they are in, but because of the reliability of
Documentary: photographs, Most published books
audio recordings, movies, or (except those discussed in the narrator as a witness of those particulars.
video column one)

Primary opinion polls, field ◊ The word document has been used by historians in
notes, scientific several senses. It is sometimes used to mean a
experiments, artifacts written source of historical information as contrasted
with oral testimony or with artifacts, pictorial survivals,
Reprinted primary sources
and archaeological remains.
(often in reference books
◊ Documentation – signifies any process of proof based
such as: speeches of the
American presidents and upon any kind of source whether written, oral,
documents of American pictorial, or archaeological.
history) ◊ Document becomes synonymous with source,
whether written or not, official or not, primary or not.
Map, Oral histories, court ◊ The human document has been defined as “account
records, paintings, of individual experience which reveals the individual’s
sculptures, consumer actions as a human agent and as a participant in social
survey, patents, schematic life”.
drawings, technical reports, ◊ The personal document had been defined as “any
personal accounts, jewelry, self-revealing record that intentionally or unintentionally
private papers, deeds, wills,
yields information regarding the structure, dynamics
proceedings, census data
and functioning of the author’s mental life”.
“Original” is a word of so many different meanings that it
would have been better to avoid it in precise historical
discourse; it can be, and frequently is, used to denote five
different conditions of a document, all of which are