Chapter 2- Sources of

History
4 category of historical source
materials
 Documents
 Numerical records
 Oral Statements
 Relics
 Documents- Written/ printed
materials produced in one form or
another sometime in the past
 Numerical records- numerical data

in printed or handwritten form

 Oral statements- statement made

orally by someone
 Relics- objects whose physical or

visual characteristics can provide

information about the past
Primary Source
 Prepare by an individual who is
participant or direct witness to the
event
 First-hand information like
eyewitness reposts and original
documents, personal journals,
interviews, surveys, experiments
 Original, unfiltered information
Advantage
 Directlyaddress topic and provide
information that is unavailable
elsewhere
 Design your own experiment
Disadvantage
 May be too close to the subject,
lacking critical distance
 Consuming to prepare, administer

and analyze
Secondary Source
 Document prepared by an
individual who is not direct
witness to an event but obtain his
description from someone else
 Filtered by someone else
perspective and maybe biased
 Textbook’s author’s explanation
Advantage
 Provide variety of experts
perspectives and insights
 Quality of sources like scholarly

articles
 More efficient than planning,
conducting and analyzing primary
sources
Disadvantage
 Dig to find applicable information
 Information maybe colored by the

writer’s own bias or faulty

approach
Tertiary Sources
 Third hand information by
reporting ideas and details from
secondary sources
 Advantage- offer quick, easy

introduction to topic
 Disdavantage- oversimplify or

distort a topic
Types of Primary Sources
 Autobiographies and memoirs
 Diaries, personal letter,
correspondence
 Interviews, surveys, fieldwork
 Photographs, posters
 Work of arts and literature
 Autobiography- account of
person’s life written by that
person; ex: Mga Tala ng Aking
Buhay by Gregoria de Jesus
translated by Leandro Hernandez
 Memoir- history/record composed

from personal observation and

experience, writers are person
who played roles or close observer
of
 Diary- kept record of artist’s
activity and reflections
 Personal Letter- informal

composition that concerns

personal matters sent from one
individual to another
 Correspondence- body of letters

or communications, pen pal or

email buddy
 Interview- one-on-one conversation
where questions are asked and
answers are given
 Survey- list of questions aimed at

extracting specific data from

particular group of people, can be
specific or limited
 Field research or fieldwork- collection

of information outside laboratory,

library or workplace, range of well-
defined methods
 Photographs and posters-
illustrate past events as they
happen
 Work of art- thing of beauty in

itself
 Painting- visual art where paint or

ink is use on canvass to depict an

artist rendering of scene
 Drawing- visual art where person

uses drawing instrument to mark

Paper
 Literature- body of written works;

imaginative works of poetry and

prose
 Speech- communication in
spoken language made by
speaker before an audience
Types of Secondary Sources
 Bibliographies
 Biographical Works
 Periodicals
 Literature Reviews and Review
Articles
 Bibliographies- organized list of
sources followed by a brief note or
annotation
 Biography- description of real
person’s life including factual
details and stories; Greek word bios
means life and graphia meaning
writing
 Periodicals- newspaper, magazines,

journals publish periodically

 Newspaper- periodical publication
about current events
 Magazine and journal- publish

weekly, monthly, quarterly,

annually; print edition use better
paper and more color
 Journals- written by scholars for

scholars
 Magazines- produced by
professional writers and editors
 Literature review- evaluative
report of information found in
literature
 Review Article- summarize the

current state of understanding on

a topic
 Survey articles- review articles
 Academic publication- review

journals
 Film review- assess film’s overall
quality to determine if it is worth
recommending
 Book review- book is analyzed

based on content, style and merit

Types of Tertiary Sources
 General reference like
dictionaries, encyclopedia,
almanac
 Crowd sources like Wikipedia, You

Tube, Twitter, Facebook

 Search sites
Repositories of Primary Source
 Library-collection of source of
information and similar resources
made accessible to a defined
community
 Archive- accumulation of
historical records or physical
place they are located
 Museum- institution that cares for
collection of artifacts
 Historical Society- dedicate in
preserving, collecting, researching
and interpreting historical
information or items
 Special Collection- library unit

that materials require specialized

security
2 kinds of criticism
 External Criticism- Genuineness
of the documents researcher uses
in historical study
 Internal Criticism- accuracy of the

contents of a document; what the

document says
 General principles in determining
reliability
1. Human source maybe relics like
fingerprint, narrative like statement
or letters. Relics are more credible
sources than narratives
2. Any given source may forged or
corrupted. Strong indications of the
originality of the source increase
reliability
3. The closer a source is to the
event to describe, the more it can
trust to give accurate historical
description of what actually happen
4. An eyewitness is more reliable
than testimony at second hand
which is more reliable than hearsay
5. If number of independent
sources contain the same message,
credibility of message is strongly
Increased
6. Tendency of a source is its
motivation for providing some kind
of bias. Tendencies should be
minimized or supplemented with
opposite motivations
7. If it can be demonstrated that
witness or sources has no direct
interest in creating bias then
credibility of message is increased
 Indirect Witnesses
 Most information come
 People who were not present on

the scene but heard of events

from someone else
Oral Tradition
 Broad Conditions Stated
1. Tradition should be supported
by unbroken series of witness
from immediate and first
reporter of the fact to living
mediate witness
2. Several parallel and independent
series of witness testifying to
the fact in question
Particular Conditions Formulated
1. tradition must report a public
event of importance ; known
directly to a great number of
persons
2. Tradition must generally be
believed for at least definite
period of time
3. During definite period, it must
Gone without protest
4. Tradition must be one of
relatively limited duration;
maximum limit of 150 years
5. Critical spirit must develop while
tradition lasted
6. Critical-minded persons surely
challenged tradition-may consider
ir false- must have no challenge