very ofen decidedly more progres in tne. Sch historiography {ly sect inchide a wider vay of hisoncal aco han Nota the past thought wordy of say eaten see motener wo expose Ce ‘aj che politcal soca and intelectual rachis tat we hehe. ie from the pax were honed his wny orting to dey) hae hierarchies, making mat once seemed nar se unchangeable spear src and malleable. Historias today thus employ medodolges Somewhat deen from tat oftheir predecesors Almost al re vo more sepia about the Kind of rte aor ca dcx, shout the kind of wath buried in sources. Mon approach the endence wh ‘Rany more quetons shout is provenance adi ian na et iredecesors might have had This docs not mean however, hat hor {toy are lee of he pare. The bes of them bonow hes fam tet fredecesiors. sing their tlt place and decipher sources, oc ep Inga sar sratgies to manipulate snd order hem. Wie ey ot te the sme Kinds of histones athe predecsory, they could not ‘ete try a ala est ats eheyundetsand i teye ot ave UBisrieh egy. oot frevsniee. From Reinke Sorte. gg £ CHAPTER ONE w ‘The Source: Phe Basis of Our Rnowleige about the Past A What Isa Source? “The wooden col found acehe see of element tei The egr or dowels they acd o fasten buldiag materials further enlighten ‘cholarsabous their echnical sls and arse capacies, By comparing hie ares with howe om other paces, historians ean further lesen something oftheir commercial or intelectual relations (for example, by ‘Comparing freacos from the Gyeladen land of Santrii with those from Gree) Tn contrast, such a the record ofa property &< Change (for example, the donation of land to a medieval monastery OF the sale of share on the New Yark Stack Exchange) Speeches or om eauric are alo teximonies, Vaclav Hels speech dusing the “"Vehet Revolution” in Prague in 1969s one seh example: init he flinated agsinn the communis hardliners and reformers and claimed the ve Spring” of 1968 as historical for his own revolution.gu meas, and itis the hist job to sppleen the aw mae Fialavaiabein te source Both rls and wstmonies were ntl created forthe wei put poise agen whichtbey were made Wha are lcd sclessesee Sly obec of practical ein dey fe and onl ner Spee ‘Gllxed. came to be ested as hte snuces The ae ee ‘uoH SKN, Whee onl Gromen Thy wee toenEET oS Side contemporaries prot ofan 3 o of» right arin order nore {hess abouts fact Onl rar were they dengned ovine we panei alebough thacsometne secre. In onan ale the canons testy is thas usally more teportant than tf Sal te foes of sch eps ofien te he lr iteriana grt del oie peg wile eu, Is perhaps uneecesay to pon out that oe oes hs ‘orn’ principal sss uncon the ona eel these ox esimonis hat have come down wo gosta, adc ise (se they were intended to serve and what parpows dey actually soned the tineeywefecrented tacts ened Testinenes and afc wether oral or wien, may ave ben ia tensonal crete, perap to sere as ecodvar Dey sighs hace zeae or some other purpose ene. Sch soactine ta ic Sats having haan “ean, te seond a bing unico to face newer the dsneion io se clear atta ate eee fry source designed for ne purpose may cme ohne very dferee a fot storians For examples lm hen to record one ees but wick nce ‘erent captied another might wel be “uninooa”n conctpdos asa the mot President John F Kennedys amon lene oe ander who mean onl tote the pare fr bis poe popes That fm’ rol in hry ad in Rio inttpretaion las homers cen profoundly moreimporant A memoir ten fo eka srg legal ie designed to prow sae in court anda porta oad 2 2 noblewoman aby are no nace of deg and moses they were produced with mei popsesin ibd Te dagen tention” ous rom an“uninenonal isnt argue iatone sina transparent more eae han another Unatadal soucerse ae ‘eon! ony in the sense hat they were not produced wth ihe hy Yan's quewion ip min they are not. hover, ethers onoene Convery tendons wourer conan fears tx ander he cancel oF thee autor and fave ves Beyond thir orignal intentions Acacowe intended jy the cole author mate during her Me ney ft atria revel the unceraines aod eats at she gl 1 conceal Ina, moreter, have been rece i ly urcepeced What ita Soe? 9 way therefore afectng the Four in aye dhe author would never have imendea Historians must hus always consider the conditions under which saree was produced-—te intentions tht iothated WHE They at cause Hat such Knowledge well them al ey WEST Know abouts “HEDIS They mas aso consider the hstorea context which twas Broduced—the erents that preceded it, and those that followed, forthe Significance of any event recorded depends 2s much on what comes after ‘it does on what comes before. Had the Boston Tea Pary of 1773 not been followed by the American Revolution, would have had consider ablylesssigniicanee than historians have since given i and the very sme ewmpaper report of the uprising in the very sume archive, would have ada very diferent sacs fom the one tacts acquired. Ths, itor ‘if are never in a posiion—and should never imagine themselves a ‘eng ins postion toad source thou aenson o both the histor ‘ga and the historiographical.contexs thar get meaning. This, of Course, the hear ofhitorcalimerprettion Sources are thas those materas from which hisorians construct ‘meanings. Put another way, Sowpe i an abject fom the past or ts ‘ony concerning the past on which historians depend inorder to create sein own depiction of that past. A historical work or interpretation is thus the raul ofthis depiction. The relationship beaween the two can ‘be ilutrated by an example: The dary left by 4 midwife who led in colonial New England. constiaes 2 wurce, On the basis of such a source, Laurel Thatcher Uhich created a prizewinning historical study, A Midwij’s Tate (1990) A souree provides us exdence about thé exe tence of an event a hisorcl interpretation is an argument about che Although winen we we the term "source" we have in mind thes pri mary sourees, such SOUEEES ca themaches Be dliect or idicect. A diect source might be the leues or chronicles that come tous oun eighteenth fury businessmen, 2 law code written in 845, or a poent penned jut yesterday. An indvect source zeighiec ling the lewers-and books found ina woman's st, rom which scholars could deduce something about the hind of Gaining she ‘nad received and her intellectual interests or, to pursue de examples sven here, it might be an eleventh-century register cataloging the con {ents ofa princely archive that named the nitircentury code: or it could be a computer printout of sales of poetry volumes frum the Barnes and Noble at Broadway and 8zad in Manhattan, ‘The boundaries between a souree (whether director indirect) and aIisoricl study are not hays, however, so cea. Although an anclent ‘weapon—a spear ora catapult for insase er rdced warafrring ow ensip of piece of and i obviouly, a source in the usual sense, estan document have an ambiguous and hifting ramus Herodotas and This. ides, for example, each of whom provided accounts of event in their ‘own days, can be considered both historians of thei ager—ureators of historical interpretaions~and authors of sources in tat they provide ‘moderna historians evidence bot about these evens and about the in. ‘elect cultare ofthe agesin which they wrote ln many cases, norco, the sources that former hsturians used to compile ther owm account a lost tothe presen, so the historical interpretation they consruced serves present-day historians aso asa “iguce of ours ther only route 65 [ost evidence, The church hisory let By Eusebius of Caesarea (Ca 8—940 ©), fr example, mentions coundess exe that ar ow os hiswork is ‘eres not only ahistorical ineepreaton concerning the fit Chistian centutes, bat alo as an indzecteousce about thse tis thus one of the primary responsible of the historian io distin: ‘28h carefull for eaders benween information thac omnes ically ot of the source itel (in foomotes or by some other meats) and tha which it 2 personal nterpreation ofthe material. For the teal content ofc tion—whatiswansribed from the source isett—historians have no ethi- cal esponsbliy; for de meaning they impart that material of course, they are enstey responsible was Weiter sores are uly cegoried acording ta sigue scheme: Sow an diplomat judo ol document Although thee categories ae aia sd awe shal es nA much clr the aro the eidence x parsculr sone can prove itt imporen to recogni tha sores di at ve genes pe One kind of oare can not be read ext He mothe and each shuld ‘eae in ters oft formal properties arwell sin erm ofcontese Sources tional cited sr nora ew inhde hens ox as peered in arate fr, wien onder impure lar mesige. The motes for thei composion ray wide A reenie sacs ply componed inode to inform concn pris rset ing genercons newpaper article might beintende to thape opinion, the sale ego documentorperoaal arate such asada of mer Sour Typos a might be eémponedin order to peru readers ofthe junc of the Authors acions + sve orl might be made we cnet to deer 2 ‘moral caching or ofurher a eligous cause. a thograpy might be mie tenn prac of he jee wrth and achievement (2 penegre or he siography). Such sources thus take many difrcne furmo, which ave ‘ight dependent upon the convents ofthe age in wich they were srlten. The category of coaratve sce” is theefore consider broader than what we svaly consider “con * Novel and poetyy—the archypicalfeontarenevrielest, a ube fis eategory. inde sare, lbough they were not compote wth the purpue of informing suczesor about the tine in which hey were ween, ‘Queséons of inteatonaly, duet! above, become especially impor tant in the case of ego documents Diaries, for example, can almost steer rented a lable reports abost an event but se readin er of the very indvidal perspective fom which they were write as an index of wa the autor (hat the “itletut author" term we wil define Iter) commidrs bis truth! Memoirs are sal sleeve counts alays highly edited version of theif being recorded alma ‘as high tlelogieal in strctre (in tha hey ae wate to explain theoutcome of alte, not to record it proces). In general, hen ege doe: uments record the author's perception of event, perhaps even his et co how he experienced them, andthe canon ell a great deal bout the writer's pola intentions and his acts, aswell ss deo Spy an he cule of he age Diplomatic ura ae understood to be tote which docunent an east inglealsnatin or create anew one, and ti tee binds of soures hat profesional histor ouce wenled athe pues, “bes source, The ‘lsc diplomatic source the char, + "legal insrument” what Get ‘nant ell the Und the French the shortsordipline This i 9 doce. ‘vet usualy sealed or auhentced nome other ay, intended to pro vide evidence ofthe completion of legal anc or proof ofthe ‘vtence of uric fact and which cold sen ts evdence in jul proceeding inthe een of dupe. Scholars diferente those legal i Soument sued by publ autores (ich a igs or popes, he New ‘rk Court of Appeals or the US. Congres) from thos invabing only ite partes (uch a al or a morgage agremend) ‘Tae form of any paral legal iarunent ned. 1k possesses spe Gite formal pepente (eternal athe andor pin se, te ink “Tet be ea lp oto fr the inhi recaning an event Se fr fuer dn: Dns Spence, Nera Pa Hel Ta Son ae ni Pyaar 8).{he seal: interna, such as pateatar rhetorical devices and images) which are determined bythe norms of aw and by waitin Such characterises thus vary in cme (each generation has is own norms) and according to provenance (each bureaucracy has its own tadions—the emperors has ‘one syle, the pope's another, the United Sates House of Representatives sllanother) “Technical, diplomatic source is composed of three parts, The fists the “protocol” which is generally quite sterenpical, i includes the names ofthe author or issuer and of the recipient, a standard opening or salutation, and an appeal wo some higher authori’ that leitiates the legal act—perhapsa god ("in the name ofthe Fur...) asecula lard ("by the power invested in me... "), ora principle of justice ("we hold these muths tobe selfevidenc. . ). The second isthe content ie the recittion ofthe cate and its determination, Here the form is variable, being determined largely by dhe purpore ofthe document. The third is the closing (die chao; again, the form is sereonpical, containing various authensicating formula, wineses, dates, and 30 0m, “These charers can also be categorized according to function. Some ae law giving (ordinances, declarations of la, satues, etc), Others are Juridical judgment of cours and of other legal authorities); sill others ‘ecord voluntary agreements between individuals authenticated by pub hie notaries, by officials of bishops, of by aldermen of cites. They deal with contact, wils, marrage licenses, and all ther forms of socal agreements ‘What historians often rele to a sil damon are dhe produces of Sapiens undo hres and school Contig information, ‘of economia pohca, or udicaT port these documents provide accounts of parculr charges or agencies (anbasadors’ repo munich pl accounts the fadings ofa parcularcominssion), of meetings (par lamentary debates), oftusines policy. Or they give a some ofan admin iseracve stractce (he propery registers of & monastery), of fiscal seruceure (ax oll), of a sci seuetore (cept of birdy masage, and deaths ists of etzenship regintatons) raf « pla! adminis ton (iss of ules exbinet oes legulators). Wirten sources uf hse hinds, alhough cereal eaten most hie torians" work and although sometiessmained tobe the excluie sup. pliers of historical data, are by no means the oaly Kind of historical Source. Unvten sources, both material and ofl, te as eel ele tenis ofthe historians suse Like writen wourees, hey ae of diferent peso genes, ‘Archgeologcal idence, whether articles from dally life, artistic ere ations sich 38 jewelry or vases, dvelings, graves, roads, churches, oF fos ‘cations, counts as one ofthe most important categories of unwritten ct idence. Such arfacts ean tel hietoriane a great deal about the culture of the are, the way of if, the artistic ambitions of the people who lived there Ifthe objects unearthed in one place canbe identified as having ‘ucen made in another, they ean also reveal a great deal about the con» merci and sociocultural interconnections of the age. Someries the archaeolagical object site more than the trace of for- mer setdemeng,asearlefton landscape. Esen relics as apparent insigni leant asthe charred beams ofa burned house, especialy they have been lef uncouched through ime, can provide the historian valuable informa tion, asthaeologial sites of interest to historians are sometimes butied lnder present-day structures and ist usearthed during excavations under taken in the course of building a modern consirution such as subway or sewer line. For example, in 1995, Native American burial grounds were di ‘covered in New York Gi during excavations farnew subway constuction, ‘Coin hoards, and sometimes hoards of paper eurenies, have similarly provided historians with valuable information about the institutions of {goverment bout economic condiions, about wade relations, about fi ‘Gl policy. In addition, historians rely heavily visual representations, whether handmade or handinished, such as paivings, etchings, and (ranings, or machine produced, such az Sls and photographs ‘Oral evidence is aso an imporant source for historians, Much comes from die very itn pas, nthe form of ales and the sagas of ancient. peo- ples, or from dhe premodem period of Western history inthe form of fal songs or popular risials Such evidence als comes, however, ftom our en {yn he form, for example of protest songs orather kinds of artistic pes formance. The ingenew is another of the major arms of oral evidence reduced in our age. In their original form, al hese sources were purely {Tal (or vival) and few were recorded in permanent ways. Hence they are low to scholars today. But some were preserved in one wayor another, and it is thanks to those preervaons often accidental, that historians can stil sve acest to them In the presentage of film and radio, great many oral borothersse ephemeral surees have thus been rendered “writen,” so that ‘nsome ways historian are today even mre kel to use “oral” sources “The degree to which any hitovian ses orl or material evidence de pends toa large extent, on the period being studied or on the particular Suhject under investigation. Historians’ knowledge about prehistoric Sinesthat the age before writen records—is necessarily based en- trey om the material or, indirectly, on the oral record. Beginning about$000. wing wa vented in Mesopotai, thos inaugurating he Tora" uae tag TSaeee oped wigan ar 3 Bait phic eon else an efor tha reason hat thlan eso shch degen anced inowedge ofthe ancien snes tana oes ee “planation or the profound tiene hee alread es ‘own, Dusing the eaty Middle Ages howee; sal comune same tclaiey mare port. it sony Sod Pe Say Gatien conmoniaionachied dosinans oem eee ‘eda Europe ide Ineniar oberg eo ae ‘he iteenh century. wetem Entopean Hao cae Ses stig documents of al Lnds-newe spore a Hons pet. draingr—thirastring et ang sane a !ncon. The inroducton of wing ued printing ad ce Se nes on ileal Hor aswel they ga scolar ee and more accurate ace tthe hough tier pret Neverthe historias dare entiely on eee esr thei knowledge een of thee age hich the ped ta ce nae ove, the boundaries beween ttn anda ofr hectane oe settland mae aticy ARaugh tune ne ea Catgoved maternal ices ptm wien, heey ey ateeson oe gener iferences aang en sade deere ing them the ame ale rexaches how nar wee hee nec, bt consider them eral. Toy man anon ne ee tr for writen and oer mata sources eaten a What schol know, fr example about te people ob ae ee Regine” (erm wed ia mich ol ance and vee ae the perio tom the ate Mile geno abun tea) coe Sons des, bee, and tater comes to hem thoes of sources, some orginal writen some writes ona eee sever itn Folk ogy, morumena auresand ules eines oe ings and other val epesencaons ln lenease eee «suns pos om the age) ei ps song neve and diplomatic doaimens to provide the mata neck Nee fave based exmordnany neh “Techni insovatonsf the nnccenh and ease ens hve ele pee nds of sours conus war be ee ineked snp an improtementin qa the plough sed ae 2, the ls provide representations hat ae in ome oes ene eure ype 5 than he painted or dan nage, The eats ewe ioe, when Thomas Wedgwood invented the phorgrammon alternate pape, and 388, thea Redakinwoduced the fl ol ere the dese decades in hei tory of the sl phorogaph. The period bemeen 28g; when Joep Piateau began expeineats with mong ins and 18ewhen Thomas Pais perfect techies she eal gee the development of technology for moving pers I was only around 195. howere, hat the technology became aaa to preserve Has adequately an is sullmore celta efor hae been made t copy an ths presee ms made befor that period. Un 1900 mos fis were what we ell “documentaries” report of crrent cena o of nara Phenotena. Drama fms were made afr that dt, dough twas not unl ater tge7 dat we had “aie” Sound ecordgs dt fron the te inten centr, atleast rom ‘oma Elion ean 17 The ganas an tne and snc the 18s we have had the con OBE The collection of information ov pans began, met the pe recording Rs ‘mae (ot of ne) i 993 ane around saqo produce yma. “The radio began in 1898 and wa publicly sabe after gor: regular sransminion began io the Unied Sues afer tao. Teevion aoe the fst experiment in 1927, in 198 it was made pus aaa in Lom don ia gin New York. ‘Ten yas ne it ame to most ofthe Euro pean counies Thi medium did not, however, onstute ate Source least notin eat yeas, forthe tami a telewon were ‘manly ve, and were arly recorded or sated. In cnuast tape or cele loi tn recording evens had amch gee chance of being saved, Duk itwas only bemeen abou 4940 and vgyo tn these media mere wide sed: These apes donot, however, constuteaseeure source. Type they have not ated and hese deteriorated, norton hs been los Even the svedinfomaon is sometimes inaccessible The Pench TV gem to ce just one example ha over gon ooo documentaries ot tape aso ay to make them etl accesible to researchers Tele, ‘sons potential ra hisorcal source has then, some ance ogo Smile problems bese the computer les on hich a hage nny of recent decade anc document ne sored Bary set tok of ersse or inaccebilgy a even geste problem spore the rapid changes in harvare and software fo cond mae tanya be unendae ‘ith the echnology af onary Ta 198, for Sap was scored UFaEa Huge porn ofthe acl econd Kept by the Ue Sees gover ment were Inacesibe, bens the Japatee cmpany which Red Sup Plied the orginal technology for reading these recurs was no Ingermaking it.The probtem here is not so much technical a organizations ‘hat sneeded a policl and nancial commento matting the accel ofthese materia Al hes sources although dierent fom ene another, are in many ais complement. Oral fecondeobiouly as compleben Beare {ena ealiation that was or too Tong lost on oe paterson nino ns. One of the fist recognize theelaion foal adison owen vex was an Vania, a Flemish iran who ts now teaching fee nied Sates A student of West Aan cule he enabled atthe ories handed down fom one generation to another in that elt wee ss sale andrelable accouts ftir pastas were the writen chron sd pettonal nua at baveauvived fom the weseen Euceas ts that in fac they were of he sme genre ‘Vansina's argument wa, in exence, methodol fore ws nota ing hata orl acount shi this level af eae they dose ong ‘hey meee user ets, Vnsoa's te concered bath ats pcoa op ‘be-ea (ig he narrate for wines] a member ofthe go tha sone ‘Be eaten of ena doen nari come oe Serer ‘i a socal nition or aa coed cant and dns itera (eine ‘ative alsa coherent, hati does ta net sectoponee ng form to he inguisie, syria, an ural nov a there and the plc from wich seal tld (or pretends orgie Vansia'scontibution to istorieal methodelogynas signin ory ‘anshad by and age nocundersood tht in ma sce ach be rope cris eat and eleventh centuries), social relations were sustained through oral ac, and that the most porn lel wansiccons schnnes Str aun by meant a wineing nde Or commen «ation thus rarely indicates abirary acon snd ioc anarchy toe ‘8 be the mar conplesand vores sepolicd paca Sal trios can place ss in orl source oul othe exten that ‘hey can be eed by means of extrnal pidence af sales tat oe 2 afchacological,ingusse, oF cull In one cfr oenle we ‘eivchers studying uavelertepors from tatcenveentany Ain see able to make sense of atinudes and pactces described those epove comparing them to similar behaviors characteristic of modern, better- understood cultures and by anal the archacloieal eed Thea this case horas were alte ie pest oteeeng ee ‘oUld, However, be a mike Wo conclads Rom he aanee Gee ek To conclude from this instance Uh sich 8:5, Vain De din nl ns st bin es ERS Oc mint ent ete Cefn ge a na . Snes hn et, ana gone ot reat wr “hed rece conenpondence (litre date) cf raroos Kinds (eco Somer busines diplomat mia which had wo be writen in code ‘The scond was genera correspondence (terse poten") which, in tim thon oer byte neepaper, the did eategoy Te fovea nein the producdon of tia gens ere the Veneta who regla penned commentaries (clled ems) wo accompany the business corre {pondnce thy sent all over Europe ny wee followed bythe German {Tad cs ke Nuremberg and Wienbeg which produced whos they {lll Ztengen ocwepaper), Te, printed newspaper witha regula Period appeared fs in Stasourg (1609) and Annerp (1529). 1 ar enly fer that a dncon was nade beorecn single newslce (whieh Rad no explceduaria content and “newspapers of opinion.© The shitd phase afcammunicaon of course, defined by mechan nea Ta 18go, the wan incendie speed a ick inorsion (Gabe ranted to go op les pr or, With te invention a the telegraph in 184, information anemision became almost nan teour By 1896 i Segured oly sven minutes fo tanait a menoge ffi one place on the lobe to another. The more recent innovations fch telephone, arid, eevison, and slte hae ace informa Gon wanatlon Waly aantancout and praciealy Univeral Accompe ‘jing tis technological revoluion were oranizndonal changes inthe ‘ay efron va faered and detvered. The nineteey cei tw the emergence of hug vite service uch as Revere and U.P, which prove neve scrces to ound of sal cents mon newspapers sy Entirely on these eres for information from beyond ter om focally Sa hs hae no independent soe ty which hey can vette da they receive Tes evident tha the peed atwich a pee of information can be ranemined lng with ts ubiatousnes direc lcs sin fuence, Today's seis (GNN, for example) make the world 3 global vilage "ad thats in tome seniea cheerful thought frit means tat people taday nce ingly have accesso exacy the same informaton athe sane vane often reac smiley. But italso means that an eden toch atc tae Mise isis of 1962 elicis an immediate reacipn in Moscow and Waa ‘gion alike, with all the risks that such speed ehtals* Stl trees an sed the Baltic area and another o months before anheduhee wenn foreit arrived where needed — #4 too Int fora huge portion ofthe populaton [Tne Power of moderm-iay cormmunicadons wih their steady ream of ffatlon changes and echsical innovations, depends, however, rote Ihe speed a which messages travel but also on the uaa die are and ofthe distsbution system. Kalo dependsen the Yeadinew af hove ence to accep the innovation Ici, for example, no aiden de tn Sesemethanical clocks were developed in aly nthe ourtenth comer, sectre an socio nomic tem wee smi "The mera quae a ; ofthe menage el atts anc aswel When, i the hanas pat meager re smite nt eg ane Shei suvinbiey and-dtibuon pon intend rene Ce withthe advent of radio and TV, mesages hae in ante woe ne sronagnemera genera one can sy Uitte quay ond secur oF ests inciened whew eters nd mecape ae ‘Ee ena pe na es REE or an thatthe frm in hich information come tote anes ke Sed fm, in concrast,emphasae the nats dhe concen Mats communicacons can also ereate collcine memoris By thi we {2st widely and simultaneously, che event becomes part of st ‘Sence, pat ofhisrical memory. The Veunam Wat inthe be anees e ‘aly sevensies provides a perfect example; the daly news rejane shone she i creed fora great many Americans epecily young Americans, 2 Sng experience an experience that avaraed pliclfesoanee to ‘hear The leon it shouldbe noted was not ston the America ai fay Media coverage of the Galf War (1990-93) vas much more Te sce andi eaecive memory survives of haat surely be ot the way it ms covered rather ha the conflict ee The Vee Revol ton in Prague, the fal ofthe Bertin Wall and Tasanmen Square a in ‘of, similarly joined the Wen collecive memory largely a areal of the mass medi Mass media an the techaology that kes pele hve tins ter ‘auged the character of new parting snd ie relonshp scholar ship. Very eatin the history the press hows even in the dae che stendycenary amt writen suid fr aan busnesmen he mash fotental of the pres wa recognized and wi tat developmen came Poli contro. Een then, goverament sought to mi the press po teil subversive characte by requiring tat aich newspapers bain of fc icenses to publish In the eineeen contr, western European fovemmens ofien imposed onerous tact on evspapers, a practez ‘bic reaticted their aii weal publsh and cate ewe was ‘nly under the presure of pubic opinion tatwach ates were abelshed, in Belgium in 18, fr example England in 1855 and Francia 1881 “Today, most newspapers inthe Wes depend for ic financial sopport on governments (ihe foe Sonet Unions Pda for example). pate interest roups (LO serotoRemano of pate fs (Stampa aly. cmed by Fat). Ths, mos ar tec opti and ileal pree ‘ie of rasious Kind. Sometimes its sue, divert imply sme des its more diet Dicatral regimes have gone oven further, often ven preseriing what isto be published. An ey highpoint (or low Pring) in government consol ofthe pes wa eached By Hider i> {for propaganda, joseph Goedel, with his Minera fr Volks lirung und Propaganda The hieoical consequence ofthis ominous ‘move are wel known. In contast, ome presies are relatively een hat dey function in dependently of plies aflaton or other direct couol. The London Tiss fr jars he acheQpal newspaper of ie gente; onthe con nent, France's Le Moweand Germany's Prenkfartr Algae ange resent te uadiion. tn dhe United Stats a andl ef national ere Inted newspapers sich as the New York Ti and he Washington Put roid erica coverage of pots and are poweruly able co mobilize public opinion. The rapid technological developments of recent yrs those making CNN oF the atemet posible, for exampleare oftenonder put of don fe eco Adoughde gem of these mei diver by commer motets Regents Sopcd that they provide sch en sees, both forthe pcan or seer tha hey help presen the edema he ree ‘The press, then, including the nonprint pros, is considerably more than a purveyor af news itn ply a deci le in palisal proccece ‘hemsches. Consider for sample, the imporance of he Values Posts coverage of Watergate: ore recent) ofthe Nes Yok Tae ‘Api 13,1995, report hat Serbias President Slobodan Milweic we ‘cl atocnted wih the Bosnian concentration empe rn by Serb ase miliaris and the sstemas extermination of Mais population ie che serton. Ted Tumer's CNN goes ap futher, prowling uniform, hous pr day TV coverage around the wer. In Tarr Randa the oes becomes a purely commercial uniform produ, and snultarcoah ap immporanc vehicle by which polis and govermentsockwinfarzee worl wens. In gg), pasa chanel (MBC) was begun foot Los don), and in 1993, the Europea unched et ow Gompesior zona) In these year, the United Kingdoms BS won lobe Nour the medi nw idaered and no ner the care wich which ectoral freedom & protected, HomeereVEW ness Sees i Some teas elect and Gioetore Masel“ He est B08 or the tam of ara and editor who put teeny choosing among the douands and touande of pices or inboneniee seaihble. oo the Bs of what nigh ltrectat lene the “public ine ‘haeologieal fn is dendrochronology, dhe study of wee sigs. Each ing +. On the spenion fete meta stag te suc Hy Bane a centage Stand of Turse, 90), Jo Ni ttn ea fi ta Sa ng i, Na Se ‘Eide Tal Wr a Sued Ra ol Ne ark 98)inthe ak of ce (le en she unk honey ce sponds oer of grove, sd xh ing has aloha thuteecatal chungern ping coos The ae ‘89 yaad seat scan fa methane nese, itl ther Beto atecing he e's ea Se earn They can ete dogo tack nine by mscng hee cf tare whe ae ng of we a eas ee ea ag, And oo. en aaj sno ee ae Suu frown contin tcc ah oe eae Bolen ite che fen el praca ite ee mld n nate ears 4, Statistics ZL, Historians ofthe pax tev generaons hiv nceangy tared w saa {2l methods inde hope of proving more exact mecouceat oe, © Pas, make hina more Ike asic and wre ee onic quay of mich of saath hoy wieg Senn ore, help uncover hen selasonstips among event ow secre al cans. che woul hase toca ben Hohe fr eample ad sue ees sy sexual ores in the pst, ogo beyond te thee ees sexual praccs that appear in oase hasletenand soureessich as nen ‘esos te rescipdois consinedan mors aaa By cage fen nye Se hele cl pe a ‘Shown, it as only the peasantry who by the eighteenth century did not ‘adopted such means i the course ofthe century. 7 orians do—scholars must have banogeneousand-contintots das er Latratary o {rene (out comparable) time and place. [fone wan to make chim shout English demographic excepionalin, one mat compare the birth ‘tes in an Figs ageicalaral wage with those i, sya French agricul tural vilage—nor with birth rates among Floeatine merchants! Consracting valid comparion snot always, however, samp a mater ‘of comparing te with ike in a mechanical way. Canad, for example, {he problem of comparing living andards ove long ime periods sim pleut not necessarily very good-—inethod would be to compare aver ge wages (or family income) in one perio with those in another (in “teal” wages, that is ia mney prices adjusted for iflaon, ete). This, ‘method does not work, however, when the material importance and the "eat prge ofa basic eommodichanges dramatically fom one period to the next, for instance, when a oltre in which bread i the "wa of |e" is being compared 10 one in which bread isa eatvely minor part of sulistence and in which, consequence relative pice of bread has fallen dramatically. To address this problem economists construct bas, -Ketsofgo0d"approprite to che ime and place—collections of etential ‘material of if, in proportions o lle average expenditures they then ‘convert wages into these “baskets” and compare one worker's ability to ‘buy her basket with anothers ably to buy hi. Ths, if echoars were ‘comparing, living tandards in teenth ceneary London with those ‘in oventeth wih may be toa Gente importance afsachqueonsin certain ind of hia Inge tiao onder at eas have cevoted o much energy developing techniques tate them make such connecions Unsupriogy, ts meets wh ive developed especialy sophie Seated methods of thi nd Lett ge ja one ne example of 2 technique widely ied wo pon copies in relatonshi to one nother tnd wan “orignal Ive copies of ext conan como ero hey Can be asue have Been dered rom the mega (o copy of 4 previo generation of tre). Using such method, isoriang can afen tna complex fay wees of tx, een Meningie hares of“tes genertons inthe we {Te geneaon i hee Spas fe ben woking with hese {esi fo abot a ey, dn the pce ty hn dread SMe sophsate vae of elting ee oman sek eae porate rains The etal ay ar ed oe {us ompltantr fous land ar eo ots sorting wth mana are ery eg For thse alas, howe heels can beagouena eS Once the “best” text has beer ae as teen lose and is encalay akcrained (co the extent pol) historians ei iy schng a enone aes [Reming as clearly as posible ‘Here historians are very often tempted : {improve the text, to correct it, to make it conform to the imagined evign, ‘al Busts exc hee that they sould ney cause Me corrections are obviously necessary—an sing of th orden ah hy ‘copies was of course to decide wh eae 2 decide which corrections haul be mada toys peat to mene too enegeeay And tea ‘must base any proposed corrections a acral ess, no i eect ge 2 es se “romping, gramme {als tangas cen apparent omstonrrean deceit he toca eidete,scainaly about the pot tt iormsed he the parla text an als bo te eras colog the age, about linguistic conventions a ‘eae og about the satus ofthe written Word. 1 & crucially important chat che histor very inteention evident co the re and eatorial prefaces. And, al, but - but to preserve is “estore an ding sue eng make the reer ely by mean oes fore she mt tod eet {be snfrmation she has about the text’ history la ssi ‘ip to any known (or hypothesized) ‘caidona of tn ape est) ocgina pious editors afte © Hs place of composition, its date, and so on, sian 2. Genesis of a Document ete we return co the quesion of where the source was whom, jut Our inter aneae Bernt Botham esgic ae ost the signee of tis ious, Watkndefieia ‘ideal podtced xssuceaincs ce wih what uthory, ne hase at siroandng Sons ge mea a oa Tea Sometimes the sure oa gna dices mt ‘ein he ler seme rte sur oh n chaos et ity state the sur and dhe date of isance wales they are delivering 2 rmesrage requiring immediate acon (rach i an invitation to a meeting ‘eal formar ad; in such eases the document epically mensions ‘nly the month and day, not the yeas) Literary sources very often al to report such information ‘Theidentications provided by thesourceitelfar, however often mis leading. We have cacisted thisiasoe before, in the introductory section of this chapter: sometimes authors are deliberately faking @ source, some: lines they are dagising the real pace and date of isuance. Our concern Tre slighty iferent ere we want to investigate Ure noon of author ship sel What does it mean to sy that «certain person or instation “authored” a document? Is he the pertoa who conceptualized the docu rent, ordered its production —dhe person usally calle the “intellectual ‘Author? Is he the person who gave insiaional and juridical impact to the document, by mean of his ahoriy or influence? Hstoiansthink of these authors as juridical Orie the person who drafted it, cated its language, rendered ie ina form which made i lgal—te person refered tos the“oateral author’? What ithe relasonship beeen the three? For sonte kinds of documents, this is an easy question. A woman who pensa ete t her fiend i the lnelecua, the joridical, and the mate- Fal author ofthe text in the sense defined here. A queen who orders a ‘entten copy of her commands is probably the intelectual and juridical thor ofthe resulting document, wile her chancellor is only her execu Cor the material author of che document. Buin such ssuations thisis mot always the division of labor. Historians have long pondered the extent 0 ‘which Lord Cecil was the intellectual author of certain texts supposedly futhored by Eliabeth I of England. Who authored, and in what sense, ‘Ron Reagan's speeches? These examples should make ic clear that any ‘docusient, both chose for which no “offical” author is tated and those {or which authorship is expicdy cimed, can have many authors. The slert hori cat lear a Tot abo the sgnfcance of che document by Giscoverng just who these authors were—the euler or his minister his private acer? hi wife? 3. The “Originality” of the Document Most ofthe document that come from the past—whether a law code, 2 contract a philosophical ext, ofa hagiography—are products of an ine: Tectal tradition, and historians wing an ioated wext must know some- thiog about the tradition in order wo tead their text responsibly. They most know wether a section in a law code that revered rule For males,{rg etn sch cine ce ng ssid wheter coer coped ascend stem, wheter iw eal of was tah pied. Ty mat ow fl one more Sample where nol ee \ecperap ta eucoent da eared oe eee, serail ives” speed tient, wheter Se frm marth pe ae hehe was norton acento oe Tone cache hon anaes eee a ee pang te parr exh marten Ve Sep there ienoinependearcand oe opts ee itchy wiht length ae ae she hitonan working te morale pee nae besa i niche mgs concen aah one fis and om te psd inde pubis {the esc ev andr een chess Pe ‘nphatcaedehiqurafexalancsts pa aes Whee seta sc ae concer ot one tt es langage om ster, onsen ‘fometimes fully consciously, perhaps with the intent to represent the pur. Joined wextas orginal butmore often ina dliberae efor torments itormon fom te omer Lav code pec ah eee foo, lta treo he Rasy oor 1 teniy thse arog el ea ee cea fake teh ec lnevhch para oe oa ‘were derived from other, prior texts. . “es edn hire dped sanard cnventos or comeing sich ‘aera, pia ey ptt enone engage ek es sgh om the ange noe We a ea eo Cwier sae msc me opefboroncions een ane Ur foomour winder pee ee 4 Interpretation of the Document othe nnetenthcéneuy hixoriane whe foukéed history woking as a scholay dpi, te problem of “ineroreaton” of stocrneg one of deciphering isintended meaning Ths wero cossdcrnt ste Ble tsk: indeed i was technically demanding, Toy, homers thats Ingeyto the efecsimeraiipnariy has adn nt flecion, tras ‘ans can no longer define the problem as nairowy, and they eonploy a ‘der ange of ol o “imerpret a doce Tn erase al nen chapues 4 and g, many historias today would argue thatthe intended. ‘meaning ofa ext sin some sense never recoverable and itn many ces ‘oct historically most significant featte. Hence we vil defer de ene {pic of interpretation” to doze ater chapters, noting here only that our predecessors marked the problem and made importint sides in deve: ‘ping techniques for addressing ental a is aspect. 5-Authorial Authority ‘Wks what authority does the author ofa source, peshapsa newspaper re porter ora compiler office shout a nineteenth-cenuy harvest, speak? Was he an eyewitness to the events he describer or did he participate in ‘he design ofthe system for collecting the infoxmason? Was he even alive teen te events he record are meant to have taken pace? Isis informa” ‘om second, or thir, orfaurth hand? Ie some of wha the source relates radian acount, while olber par ofthe document are based on infor: ‘mation that is taken (oma other? The later occurs very Frequently and the-felabiit” ofthe erie text ae measured by this standard thus haa ‘aviable quali, The Englsh mosk known asthe Venerable Bee, lef for ‘ample, the most valuable account historians hae of conditions in the Engish church ducing the ciginh century when he wrote; his cepor of the situation in Rome during the sume epoch is, however, considerably Jes reliable and les acute because he obtained most of his information bout those mars fom others ‘Undersandably authors are wally reluctant to acknowledge that they donot have such firsthand knowledge, forthe revelation diminishes thelr futhority. And righ o, fo the greater the numberof intermediaries be ‘veen the original elling ofan eveat and the version that our source com tains, the more chance thereof distortion, Historians cus wake stent ‘us effore to lneste the wl fsthand reports ofan event and wowace the ‘latonship of other existing verions of the report to that ariginal record, Sil, however insporantt ist now the source of ou ext information about an event shlste must not imagine data sthand reportis "ue" forthe ater interpreters might othave understood the event beter tan Firsthand observers Thisisa mistake oten made byninetecuth-centary his Corian, who tended to oneal the "eyewitness" account and dismiss Istorial evidence any text witout that stat. et, of couse, any ob- servation has avery indeterinate quali. differing according the ail ties the interes the porpose the observer. For example how reliable ave the eporofeuch prnlegedeeineses asthe Israel minster for for ‘ign aly Shimon Petes, he PLO leader Yasser Arafat or he Americanpresident Clincon during the e presiden: i cretnegotiaons between Ira] and ales {nein 1995? Whatcan a wesenjourmalstinTel Ayan Arbintellecoal ‘om Jericho, ora Hasidic youth from Mea Sharm in Jersalem tellus about whats "ell goingon in that nd at any parca me? Each has is or er om perspective nite, dsored, paral ew fens. _ ise same for historian eudying an et sits forte eyevainess ‘observers oft or participants init Historians have only arta ws aod are situated, minimally, at one remove away, While itis esenil to deter mine ata remove they ae sated,kivno guaran of nen “fullness” to obtain the firsthand account. 7 ee = &, Competence of the Observer Autough no acount no sours compe) reliable," the rseorth ‘ews ofan count at lets epr of eens, may ary enon, de Bending upon greatmaoy factors May of them hae areal been ssed here let us construct a rather mo se het es fe systematic ist ofthe kinds of SSO2 lin one in deciding how much erediyw ie» Sires 288 mpc” Hiern have cadena ‘The frst concerns the factors parscularto the individual observer * Wha wa the poop sate of he én Ste of he ator ofthe source? Was te aed with Me oat thew sd soe 1 apse an opine + Tovwhat extent oa de aut i audios repartee? What paiclar ‘ds of hing would hve nee thi suo? Whee ‘nuances would she have been likely to ignore? ana + Wa pete would have iafrmed the aceoun? People uncon ‘cious bring hci asupons shout soit ter epee a often unitestonaly reporting eves in wis atin cog tir own expectations of human charters womenele sean en _ dbeleste ora en edo ote ct ah ge” Under wat ose influences ne sures ceed ee hot higher authors’ Byes regular shape ther see llecton ocr vith tepore fom mre "whore Rot out ofa concoustesonse to prone (lenge of cous happens wel) bat ou ofan uncool eco form othe donnannaratne May of he eyes te AssusinatonofJobn F Kennedy for example chomet hor ee coon’ about the number of shots they “heard” afer the TV news reported other counts. A slight different st of questions about “competence” pertain tothe climate ofthe times i which the observer ved. “+ Was the moment at which he reported one in which people could hhave absorbed information ertclly? In mes of emergency for instance, during naceral disasters or wafare—people lose all ob- _eetvig, Every eumor, every absurd tory, is taken seriously. An eye> ‘witness observer in these cvcumnstances is, obousy, not “reliable” in the usual sense, + Could the observer hate understood what she saw? Here we hve in mind the incapacity of people ouside a culure eo understand rents within ic What, afer all, do Brits observes in the United Sates make of baseball’ What do. Americans understand of cricket? What do Westerners chink i going on in the public baths in Japan? What do Hindus from New Delhi wo are vscing Texas reparthome about eae yards? “+ Was the obsener technically or socaly qualified wo understand vwhathe saw? Can the average American deliver a useful account of 2 Senate hearing on tx reforms? Could the pial medieval mer ‘chane accurately describe the rials of the jous? Could the me- Gieval monk tell such about married life among welhh century pears even ihe had yanted 10? + Could the observer actually believe what she aw? Thomas Mana has reminded us tha very often people simply cannot absorb the information hefore tem, shat they are paalaed by what he called *Glaubensunwilgkei(—an unwillingness to believe. Usually, this ‘occurs when the evens ave too hortfving to contemplave. Cox ‘der, for example, the inabliry of many European Jews vo accept that the German state was organizing their mas extermination, “The Nazis had formally ken this decision on January 20, 1942 and the information wis circulated by the Polish resistance in o4grig and even broudeast, with some delay bythe BBC. Never~ theless almost no ane in Europe believed thr such 2 monstrous horror was posible, ncding the Jews dhemseves, + Finally, historians most consider the difference beoseen what an ‘observer might concivistr know and beable to reportanl che vay this consciousness ie affected by the culture he infiabis. The latter