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Historical Method: Historical Sources Historical Criticism
Historical Method: Historical Sources Historical Criticism
Historical Sources
Historical Criticism
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Outline of Discussion
I. History as Reconstruction
II. The Historical Method
III. Historical Sources [Written and Non-
written; Primary and Secondary]
IV. Historical Criticism [External and
Intenal]
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Introduction: History as Reconstruction
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Introduction: History as Reconstruction
https://ph.news.yahoo.com/photos/greeces-finance-minister-yanis-varoufakis-r-greets-outgoing-photo-
074446293.html
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History is not fiction
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What is the Historical Method?
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What is the Historical Method?
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In short, the Historical Method is…
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Historical Sources
Sources – an object from the past or
testimony concerning the past on which
historians depend in order to create
their own depiction of that past.
Howell and Prevenier, From Reliable Sources an Introduction to Historical Method
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Written Sources
1.Published materials
Books, magazines, journals,
Travelogue
transcription of speech
2.Manuscript [any handwritten or typed record
that has not been printed]
Archival materials
Memoirs, diary
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Non- written Sources
Oral history
Artifact
Ruins
Fossils
Art works
Videorecordings
Audiorecordings 19
What are Primary Sources?
Testimony of an eyewitness
http://www.yale.edu/collections_collaborative/primarysources/primarysources.html
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What are Primary Sources?
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http://www.yale.edu/collections_collaborative/primarysources/primarysources.html l
What are Primary Sources?
http://www.yale.edu/collections_collaborative/primarysources/primarysources.html
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Four Main Categories of Primary
Sources
1. Written sources
2. Images
3. Artifacts
4. Oral testimony
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Primary Sources: Written Sources
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Primary Sources: Images
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Primary Sources: Images
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Primary Sources: Images
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Primary Sources: Images
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Primary Sources: Artifacts
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Primary Sources: Artifacts
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Primary Sources: Artifacts
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Primary Sources: (Documented) Oral
Testimony
“My first day was a scary one. There was a
patient whose earlobes were so long…he
had no nose, only two holes on his face,
and no fingers, only the palm of his
hands…the other patients were in
different stages of deformity.”
Examples:
History textbook
Printed materials (serials,
periodicals which interprets previous
research)
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Practical Example/Worksheet
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What is Historical Criticism?
1. External Criticism
2. Internal Criticism
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What is External Criticism?
3. Anachronistic style
e.g. idiom, ortography, punctuation
4. Anachronistic reference to events
e.g. too early, too late, too remote
5. Provenance or custody
e.g. determines its genuineness
Louis Gottschalk, Understanding History
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Tests of Authenticity
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What is Internal Criticism?
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Tests of Credibility
5. Corroboration
i.e. historical facts – particulars which rest
upon the independent testimony of two or
more reliable witnesses
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Three Major Components to
Effective Historical Thinking
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Sensitivity to Multiple Causation
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