LOCAL HISTORY

LOCAL HISTORY

• Local history attempts to reconstruct the history of a place to understand

how the way people lived connects to the community’s present and future.
WHAT ISN’T LOCAL HISTORY?

• The study of local history is not dominated by out-of-date antiquarians throwing

together physical remains from the past without any focus on using their
collections to bring change for the future. This form of superficial history allows
historians to develop a pattern of conclusions without deeper engagement with
local history in a comparative context. Worse, this stereotype of history does
nothing to help us understand the dynamics of a place. These historians can
take so narrow a view that they miss the insights history provides about our
futures. By missing the opportunity to examine and interpret conclusions from
historical evidence, historians are missing out on what local history does best.
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?

• History is typically taught with a focus on national and international events,

but ignores the places students (of all ages) engage with most, their
neighborhoods. Involving students in local history helps them to learn to
analyze their place in larger events. By understanding their part in history,
people become directly involved in their studies of the past. By focusing on
local history, students will learn to question history as it has been taught and
history as it is being made around them.
GOALS OF THE HISTORY

• 1) Enhance critical thinking and analytical skills.

The study of history is far more than the rote memorization of names and
dates.  While chronology and knowledge of the basic facts of history are
necessary, the study of history involves sorting out those facts to create
coherent systems of understanding the human experience.
• 2) Enhance writing and communication skills.
History courses emphasize writing and communication skills that prepare the
student to express her/his views cogently and logically.  The acquisition of
these skills has repercussions that transcend the classroom.
• 3) Acquaint students with the basic tools of interpretation.
The interpretation of the monuments of the past is the basis of historical analysis.  The seamless
garment that textbooks create is NOT what historians do; it is only a necessary first step to
gathering the basic facts about the past.  On the contrary, the variety and often obscurity of the
evidence of the past requires that historians learn to see beyond bland, textbook simplicity, and
shape that evidence into original understandings of the past and the present.  Historians learn to
distinguish between contradictory sources; draw social and cultural meaning from evidence as
diverse as the National Enquirer, a seventeenth-century tax roll, and a third-century saint’s Life.
• 4) Develop student awareness of the diversity and complexity of human social, cultural,
political, and economic institutions.
More than any other discipline, the study of history prepares student for their responsibilities as
voters and participants in our system of governance.  The knowledge not only of the evolution of
our great American experiment, but of the other systems by which human beings have sought to
create an orderly society, is a necessary and firm foundation on which students can learn to
judge for themselves the important issues of the day.
WHY LOCAL HISTORY MATTERS

• Studying history to most of us means studying history on a grand scale. The

rise and fall of civilizations, the progress of major social and economic
changes, everything in short that affects whole countries, peoples and world
events. The big picture of history as given by these studies is vitally important,
but it is worthwhile to remember that those major processes and events we
learn about were made up of individuals, families, locales and communities
that all played their part in shaping and being shaped by history.
LOCAL HISTORY TEACHES YOU ABOUT YOUR
COMMUNITY
• Locations and objects in your community, sometimes things as mundane as names of
streets, can reflect the long heritage of past generations where you live. Few of us know the
origins or histories behind our community, but learning the stories of a region’s past can
change the way you think about the present. In the course of my research into Oakville’s
history, I learned histories behind names and places I had passed by for my entire life
without ever giving them a second thought. Navy Street in Oakville, for example is named in
commemoration of the British victory at the Battle of Trafalgar during the Napoleonic Wars.
The mouth of the Sixteen Mile Creek in my community was once among the first ports on
Lake Ontario dedicated to shipping timber to Montreal and beyond. Now, whenever I pass
by a name of place I have learned about, I feel a connection to the past of my community.
HISTORY IS ALL AROUND YOU

• Above all, studying local history can fill you with the knowledge that history is
all around you. You don’t need to visit Rome, Giza, or Machu Picchu to see
reflections of the past because your own community contains many sites and
records with a rich history. Learning about local history can help you realize
the grand scheme of historical change is made up of countless individuals like
you and those around you who in their own ways contributed to the ongoing
story of your community. And this story likely contains fascinating
information that is worth finding and preserving.
THE IMPORTANCE OF LOCAL HISTORY IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY

• It is unfortunate that a vast number of Filipino laymen lack interest or

understanding of Philippine history. This may have been brought about by an
inadequate background in history and a general tendency on the part of the
people to be less conscious of the value of the past to their present life. Or,
maybe, such ignorance or apathy may have resulted from the dearth of
materials, especially on local history which is closer to the hearts and minds
of the people.