HOW HISTORIANS

STUDY THE PAST

Chapter 1, Lesson 4
Final Lesson
 OBJECTIVE
To learn what methods historians use to study the past.
What approaches ■ Find patterns in past events

do Historians use
■ Look for causes and effects that
to examine past explain how and why events
events? happened

■ Try to see the past through the

eyes of the people who lived it
What are sources of information?

■ These are the instruments, data or facts

historians use to study the past
3 Types of Sources Historians Use

1. Primary Examples of Primary Sources:

Sources ■ Letters
– Something written ■ Diaries
or created by a ■ Eyewitness articles
person who
■ Videotapes
witnessed a
historical event. ■ Speeches
■ Photographs
■ Artifacts
3 Types of Sources Historians Use

2. Secondary Sources ■ Examples of Secondary

– Written after a historical Sources:
event by people who DID – Books
NOT witness the event. – Paintings
– Media reports (based on
primary sources and appear
– Sometimes they provide
after an event
more balanced views of an
event
3 Types of Sources Historians Use

3. Oral History/Tradition Examples of Oral

– All unwritten verbal History/Traditional Sources
accounts of events. ■ Stories
– Information passed from ■ Customs
generation to generation.
■ Songs
■ Music
 ■ Asking historical questions can help
solve mysteries about the past

Lesson ■ A historian’s most important tools are

Summary primary sources, secondary sources and
oral histories

■ Examining evidence can lead to a new

answer to a question or deepen a
mystery.