Chapter 2 Primary and Secondary Sources overview Material which has a direct bearing or can be any assistance in constructing the history of a particular period are called as historical facts or sources They exist either as relies, what ‘we might call “remains,” or as the testimonies of witnesses to the past, Relies or remain, offer researchers a clue about the past simply by virtue of their existence. The wooden columns found at the site of prehistoric settlement testify, for example, to existence of a people and tell ‘historians something about their culture. The pegs or dowels they used to fasten building, ‘materials further enlighten scholars sbout’their technical skills-and artistic capacities. By comparing their artifacts with those from other places, historians can further learn something of their commercial or intelleétisal relations. In contrast, testimonies are oral or written reports that describe an event, whether simple or complex, such as the record of the property exchange. Speeches or commentaries are also testimonies. The authors of testimonies ean provide the historian information about what happened, how and in what circumstaiites thé ‘event occurred, and why it occurred. Nevertheless, few souirces yield this information in €qual theasure, and it is the historian’s Job to supplement the raw material available in the source itself. Relics and Testimonies Howell & Prevenier (2001) states that both relics aind testimonies were usually for the specific purposes of the age in which they were made. What are called relies were, ‘ypically, objects of practical use in daily life and only later, in the ages that followed, came to be ‘treated as historical sources. The same Is true of most testimonies whether oral or written. They ‘were composed to provide contemporaries proof of an act or of a right, or in order to inform them about a fact. Only rarely were they designed for the use of posterity, although that sometimes occurred. In contrast to a relic, the content of a testimony is thus usually more Important than its form. Still, the form of such a réport often tells the alert historian a great Seal; to this point we will Inter return. It is perhape unnecessary to point out that one of the historian’s principal tasks is to uncover the original purpose or function of the relics oFtestimonies that have come down to posterity, td divine whit tise they were Intended to serve land what purposes they actually terve at the time they worp ereated. " ‘Testimonies and artifacts, whether oral or written, may have been intentionally created, ‘Perhaps to serve a record, oF they might have been created from some other purpose entirely. Scholars sometimes think of the first as having jad an “Intention,” second as ‘being “unintentional In fact, however, the distinetion is not a# clear at it may at first seem, for a source designed for one purpose may come to have very different uses for historians. To distinguish an “intentional” source from an “unintentional” is not to argue that one is more ‘transparent, more reliable than another. Unintentional sources are unintentional only in the ‘sense that they were not produced with the historian’s questions in mind; they are not, however, otherwise “innocent.” Conversely, intentional sources contain features not under the contéol of ‘their authors and have lives beyond their original intentions. A memoir intended to justify the ‘choices its author made during her life may, in fact, inadvertently. reveal the uncertaiities and ‘untruths that she sought to conceal. It may, moreover, have been recelved in totally unexpected. ways, therefore affecting the future in ways the author would intended. Historians must thus alway consider the conditions under which a source waa frodiced” — the intentions that motivated st — but they must not assume that much knowledge tells hein all they peed to know about its “reliability.” They must also consider the historical context in which ft was produced ~ the events that preceded it, and those that followed for the significance of any event recorded depends as much on what comes after as it does on what comes before. Historians are never in a position ~ to read a source without attention to both historical and the historiographical contexts that give it meaning. This, of course, is the heart of historical interpretation (Howell & Prevenier 2001) ‘The Problem of Second-hand Knowledge in History Mos of the historical knowledge current among is not, however, derived from even secondary sources, authoritative writers, comes from the reading of textbooks, encyclopedia stories, dramas, and magazine articles. Popular manual and articles are commonly written by those who know little or nothing of the primary sources they are consequently at least third hand, even when baséd upon the best secondary accounts, Historians, like other people, ate sometimes fond of good stories and may be led astray by soine false rumor which, once started {nto circulation, gets farther and farther from the truth with each repetition (Robinson 1904) -Sources of History Primary sources. These are sources created by eyewitnesses to or participants in an ‘event who record the event oF their reactions to it. These documents can be written) printed, painted or drawn, photographed; mapped, tape-recorded, filmed, video-taped or computer-genierated. Primary sources are called primary because they originated with people who liad primary, or first-hand knowledge of the event. Some piimary sourées aré published documents that were created for large audierices. Others may be unpublished, documents or personal items that were never Intended to be public. Some documents were created at the spur-of-the moment; others as a routine transaction; still others with great thought and deliberation. The actions of some individuals or groups are richly documented; others not in the mainstream might have little oF no representation in the bistotical record. Kinds of Primary Sources According to Hall (2017), the following are examples of primary sources: ‘i _ 1. Letters, diaries, journals, wills, bibles, report cards 2. Business records such as correspondence, ledgers, minutes, speeches, invoices a 5 6. z 8 °. Poems, songs, hymns Photographs, paintings, films, advertisements, and other artwork ‘Tools, machines, furniture, clothing, and other artifacts from a particular era Government records such as court proceedings, treaties and trade agreements Newspapers and magazines of the period. Oral history interviews and genealogical information Memorabilia such as buttons, banners, flyers 10, Other objects such as gravestonesMessage of Blumentritt to Rizal Letters and post cards are examples of primary sources. The numerous correspondence of Petters 204 Pont seitt to De. Jose Rizal provide a rich source of historical details about our [Brent Filipino national hero, 2. Secondary sources. These are sources created second-hand by people who were either not at the event of recorded Information long sfter. Secondary sources usually interpret and ‘analyze primary sources. Sources can be considered either primary or secondary, depending ‘on the contest in which they are used. Kinds of Secondary Sources ~~ 4. Published Textbooks 2. Scholarly Journals Articles in Newspapers 4 Popular Magazines 5. Movie ReviewsSecondary Sources ‘Textbooks are usually secondary sources of history because the authors develop their interpretations and narratives of events based on the primary sources. ‘The Importance of Primary Sources in Today's Education Primary sources expose students to multiple perspectives on the great issues of past and © present. As students interact with primary sources, they develop knowledge, skills, and analytical abilities. According to (Hall 2017), the current and growing interest in using primary ‘sources is the result of two major realities in education. 1. The first reality is that contemporary learning theory has moved away from the concept of student as a passive receptacle of knowledge to one where the student is expected to be an.active learner in an inquiry-based environment. The teacher fg no longer a "sage on the stage” but a “gulde on the side.” At the highest level, the student Is expected to develop a question iota which a problem ean be solved or a decision ‘made, conduct research, and develop and present results to an audience that goes far beyond the teacher and fellow students. Such an approach takes students beyond factual recall and {nto exitical thinking skilis of analysis, evaluation, and synthesis,a. The second reality that educators must face 1s that, as a result of the information ‘explosion, students now have quick and casy access to huge amounts of information, Students now routinely qjicounter info=~ation in formats as simple as the picture book, as complex asthe multimedia package, and as diverse as the literary classic and the perstinal homepage. The information explosion has provided countless opportunities for siudents and has dramatically altered the knowledge and abilities they will need to live productive lives ithe twenty-first century. As a result, students need to Team new skills of ‘evaluating and interpreting information, Availability of Primary Sources Hall (2017) states that manuscripts of historieal importance were often scattered about {in innumerable small collections, chiefly in the monasteries. The documents were stacked up dark rooms, damp cellars, and dusty garrets. They were often carelessly transcribed, full of ‘blunders, and ‘legible except to those specially versed in the art of deciphering ancient dandwriting. There were usually no catalogues and nothing to guide'the investigator to the ‘material which was néeded. The scholar was forced to travel from place to place and turn over ‘masses of worthless or irrelevant iméterial ip the uncertain quest for the little which might be useful. Bot all this is changed. Scholars may now sit at a convenient desk in a comfortable, well - lighted library: they have clearly printed books before them, the texts of which have been ‘established by a comparison of all the known manuscripts.of the work in question. These have ‘been collated by an expert; errors have been eliminated, aiid difficult passages asinotated. The ‘work has been carefully analyzed and stipplied with an index, so that one may discover in a ew ‘noments just those paragraphs which have to do with the subject in hand % ‘The task of reidering the sources avallable has been Jong and painful one and has been ‘going on for three gr four hundred years. As early as the sixteenth dentury scholars began to ‘bring together the medieval chronicles and print them in convenient collections, Tae nineteenth ‘century witnessed a development of the critical scientific spiit which has made it necessary to eprint many sources that had appeared previously in a defective form. Moreover, thousands of ‘volumes of precious material hitherto available only in manuscript have been added to our resources. Some of these enjoy the support of the government, but the greater part of them are ‘due to'the enterprise of historleal socleties or individual scholars. So rapidly are the sourceslonger necessary in most fields of historical research to rely 5 jpts In our libraries and archives, Some, at least, of our very best d public Mbraries 0 carry on satisfactory historical research. contain many of the great collections of printed sources, andThe wnat by Katipunan in an exhib, a pindcaragh of Set Philippine Poestdent Emilio Aetna, a Fusuppins wes Diary duro World War il by Stephen Melnik nd kindy Express nzze when Martial Law declare in Accessibility of Primary Sources According to Hall (2014) the two ways of accessing the primary sources are: 1. "Dusty" or Traditional Access. Access to primary sources can be as straight forward as talking with » neighbor, Joking at family photos, finding an axtoblography inthe school Ubrary oF looking at somé of the local history materlals/at the nearby public brary: Libraries hhave traditionally Included in their collections such materials as histories! documents, historical atlases, collections of letters, books ith photographs, ete. Libraries usually also Ihave bound volumes of popular older magazines micro-form versions of other newspapenand periodical articles accessible through Indexes. Many Ubraries maintain elippings eoUlections (on topies of local interest and also house docuinents of local history. Another traditional or “dusty” way of accessing primary source materials is to'visit an archive, museum, historic site, historical society and battleground monument. Once st an archive, historian will probably need to use a card catalog, printed index, or other specialized guides to the collection. Often there are special limitations put on the use of items because of rarity or ‘fragility. Its not unusual for photocopying to be forbidcen.2. “Digital” or Electronic Access, Access to materials, through both indexing and through representations of the documents and artifacts themselves, Is growing exponentially. On tnternet are virtual Ubraries, virtual natural history museums, virtual exhibits, online bookstores and sites which will sell everything. There are also genealogical records, patent land census records, magazines that exist only in digital format, documents of all kinds, ‘Supreme Court hearings, photographs, videos, audio, ete. Ata public or academic Isbrary, the rescarcher can use a computer to access digital reference book. Each country has at least one Gepository for patent and trademark information, Although at this time using such indexes is still the only way to access many older periodicals and magazines, researchers inereasingy tse electronic databases available in CD-ROM or on Internet. Some of the indexes provide I text citations about the material but increasingly online databases provide access to the f ‘and even a graphical representation of the item itself. An analogy would be a hand-waitten letter from a friend as compared to an email. The content might be the same but content is not everything. One of the exciting concepts within digitization of libraries is the ereation of ‘virtual Ubraries. Through these a researcher can access both primary and secondary sourees. “The sm of electronic Wbehay tet crane a vintat nad pac Ys th — ‘es Hach toigbavacs coke abort baited fact tnt a gad Toray tow pal bee with n coincion of eRalSecen' that" ince to, vnc metora modo material, Yes tater, red wactoms adaAnialysia of Primary Sources sxaaents api speach any ures - contemporary or historlels primary or sacoBdays pret, son-prit of electrons am wellaa harman - witha set of extrla to unalyze te Information Preseted. According o Harré (2017) Ie a ealled the CABS Checklist ands for Credle, Accuracy, Reasonakleness, and Support . 1. Credibility. Capability of being believed or trusted: What about this souree makes it Déllevible? How does the source know the information? Why should T believe this source over another? Elements to look for here are the author's credentials like education, training, and/or experience. Ifthe author is an organization, what kind is it- corporate, governmental, hon-profit? Is there evidence of quality control? Peer review, approval by members of the owanization, review by an editor, etc. Most traditional media (books, magazines, organizational documents) usually have to meet some kind of approval of content before being made public, © 1s thefe iufficiont evidence presented to make the argument persuasive? ‘© Are there compelling arguments and reasons given? © ‘Are there eiough tats for a reasonable conclu 8 torts? °F“ W é his source factual, detailed, exact, comprehensive? Ts it up-to-date or is ne Felevant? Are important facts and other information deliberately let out? Did the creatof invent information? Who isthe audience for the souree and.hat 8 the purpose - to inform oF to: persuade? Students shduld be alert to an air of carelessness and, A Jook carefully for dies, vive éneratizations, anda very owb-aided view that dows not acknowedge npn ews egond them © Nodate'on the document Lae ‘© Asscitions that are vague or otherwise lacking detail ‘© Sweeping rather than qualified language like that is, the use of always, never, every, 8. Reasonablenest ? fairness, objectivity, moderateness, and Zeuisistency: ts thd information balanced even the opponent's claims should be presented accurately, reasoned, fair? ts there ‘conflict of interest? Is the information rpally Wkely, plausible or possible? This ts difficult for ‘any researcher with a limited content background but every éffort should be taade to useprevious and accumulated knowledge in a way that helps evaluate new formation. Does the information make sense? Are there inconsistencies or contradictions? ¢¢ Intemperate tone or language C'stupid jerks ete.) © Over claims (“Thousands of children are murdered in this country") © Sweeping statements of excessive significance “(This le the most important idea ever conceived”) 4: Support. Where did the information come from? Are sources listed? Is there a bibliography or other documentation? How does the author know what she/he knows? Do other sources agree? Don't take anything at face value, Cross-check each piace of information and compare swith others. Source considerations include there: (© Where did this information come from? (© Arethe sources listed? ‘© Is there. bibliography or other documentation Interpretation of Primary Sources PHissary sources fascinate students becalise they are real and they are personal; history is, humanized through them. Using original sources, students touch the lives of the people about whom history is written, By reading a series of public opinion surveys from World War Th, for example, students confront the language of the person interviewed and his or her fears about shortages, as well as the interviewer's reactions recorded after the interyiew. These bnman ‘expressions provide history with color and excitement anid link students directly to its cast of characters Interpreting historical sources helps students to analyze and evaluate contemporary sources~newspaper reports, television and radio programs, and advertising. By using primary sources, students learn to recognize how « polnt of view and’a bias affect evidence, what contradictions and other limitations exist within a given source, and to what extent sources are reliable, Essential among these skills is the ability to understand and make appropriate use ofese skills ts important not only to historical many sources of information. Development of th y to i research but also to a citizenship where people are able to evaluate the information needed to maintain a free societ reshape bit tt by wing primary sures aden wl parspate nthe proceso | sion ea a ethos sod dasumater sou the interpretation of the Sours ‘They will challenge others’ conclusions and seek out evidence to support their own. The Glassroom will become a lively arena in which students test and apply important analytical skills. | Repositories of Primary Sources Repositories are place of depository containing historical records and documents. The following ‘are the repositories of primary sources: 3. National Archives-The National Archives of the Philippines is the home of about 60 million ‘documents from the centuries of Spanish rule in the Philippines, the American and Japanese occupations, as well as the years of the Republic. It is also the final repository for the ‘voluminous notarized documents of the country. ; 2. National Museum-The National Muscum is a trust of the government, is an educational, scientific and cultural institution that acquires, documents, preserves, exhibits, and fosters scholarly study and public appreciation of works of art, specimens, and cultural and historical artifacts representative of our unique to the cultural heritage of the Filipino people and the natural history of the Philippines. 2. National Library-The National Library of the Philippines was established as the Mfuseo- Biblioteca de Filipinas through the royal decree of August 12, 1887.provided for the “the consolidation of all libraries belonging to any branch of the Philippine government for the creation of the Philippine Library", and for the maintenance of the same, and other purposes. To carry out the provisions of this law, a Library Board.