READPH From a political opponent: “I wonder if
he’s as good as he is in Malacañang”
LESSON 1:
An LP loyalist: “Good for him, he
The Importance of Credible and Authentic
deserves a break from his everyday
Primary Sources
work”
HISTORY
A clergy man: “As a role model for all
Historical Method Filipinos, he shouldn’t be photographed
doing that”
Historical Sources
History is not fiction.
Historical Criticism
Historical accounts must be based
HISTORY on all available relevant evidence.
It is defined as the RECORDED struggle of A version of the past that cannot be
people for ever increasing freedom and for supported by evidence is worthless.
newer and higher realizations of the human The reconstruction of the total past of mankind,
person. although it is the goal of historians, thus
(Constantino) becomes the goal they know full well is
UNATTAINABLE.
Introduction: History as Reconstruction
WHAT IS HISTORICAL METHOD?
the historian is many times removed
from the events under investigation. Agreed ground rules for researching
and writing academic research or
historians rely on surviving records. professional history.
“Only a part of what was observed in the past Core protocols historians use for
was remembered by those who observe it; only a handling sources.
part of what was remembered was recorded;
only a part of what was recorded has survived; Historians have to base their accounts
only a part of what has survived has come to the on source materials
historian’s attention. Only a part of what is Historians need to be able to locate and
credible has been grasped, and only a part of organize the relevant sources on which
what has been grasped can be expounded or they will base their account.
narrated by the historian.”
Historians have to verify sources, to
HISTORIAN: date them, locate their place of origin
Fallible (capable of error…capable of and identify their intended functions.
making mistakes) In short, the Historical Method is….
Biases – personal, political, religious,
personal idiosyncrasies The process of critically examining
Each has his own frame of preference – and analyzing the records and
a set of interlocking values, loyalties, survivals of the past.
assumptions, interests and principles of
SCEE: it involves.
actions.
Selection of Subject
Different Interpretations
Collection of Sources
Examination of Genuineness A primary source must have been
produced by a contemporary of the
Extraction from Sources
event it narrates.
A primary source is a document or
LESSON 2: physical object which was written or
created during the time under study.
The Importance of Credible and Authentic
Primary Sources These sources were present during an
experience of time period and offer an
Historical Sources inside view of a particular event.
Source – an object from the past or Primary sources provide first-hand
testimony concerning the past on which testimony or direct evidence
historians depend in order to create concerning a topic under investigation.
their own depiction of that past. They are created by witnesses or
Tangible remains of the past recorders who experienced the events
or conditions being documented.
WRITTEN SOURCES:
These sources are created at the time
1. Published materials when the events or conditions are
occurring, it can also include
Books, magazines, journals
autobiographies, memoirs, and oral
Travelogue histories recorded later.
transcription of speech Primary sources are characterized by
their content, regardless of whether
2. Manuscript [any handwritten or typed they are available in original format, in
record that has not been printed] microfilm/microfiche, in digital
Archival materials format, or in published format.
Memoirs, diary Four Main Categories of Primary Sources
NON- WRITTEN SOURCES: 1. Written sources
Oral history 2. Images
Artifact 3. Artifacts
Ruins 4. Oral testimony
Fossils What are Secondary Sources?
Art works A secondary source interprets and
analyzes primary sources. These
Video recordings sources are one or more steps removed
from the event.
Audio recordings
Secondary sources may have pictures,
What are Primary Sources?
quotes or graphics of primary sources in
them.
Testimony of an eyewitness.
Examples:
History textbook e.g. determines its genuineness
Printed materials (serials, periodicals 6. Semantics – determining the meaning
which interprets previous research) of a text or word
Practical Example/Worksheet 7. Hermeneutics – determining
ambiguities
Topic: Tejeros Convention
What is Internal Criticism?
Primary Source: Santiago Alvarez’
account The Problem of Credibility
Secondary Source: Teodoro Agoncillo’s Relevant particulars in the document –
Revolt of the Masses is it credible?
What is Historical Criticism? Verisimilar – as close as what really
happened from a critical examination of
In order for a source to be used as
vast available sources
evidence in history, basic matters about
its form and content must be settled Test of Credibility
1. External Criticism 1. Identification of the author
2. Internal Criticism e.g. to determine his reliability; mental
processes, personal attitudes
What is External Criticism?
2. Determination of the approximate date
The problem of authenticity
e.g. handwriting, signature, seal
To spot fabricated, forged, faked
documents 3. Ability to tell the truth
To distinguish a hoax or e.g. nearness to the event,
misrepresentation competence of
witness, degree of attention
Test of Authenticity
4. Willingness to tell the truth
1. Determine the date of the document to
see whether are anachronistic e.g. to determine if the author
consciously or unconsciously tells falsehoods
e.g. pencils did not exist before the 16th Century
5. Corroboration
2. Determine the author.
i.e historical facts – particulars
e.g. handwriting, signature, seal
which rest upon the
3. Anachronistic style independent testimony of two or
more reliable witnesses
e.g. idiom, orthography, punctuation
Three Major Components to Effective Historical
4. Anachronistic reference to events Thinking
e.g. too early, too late, too 1. Sensitive to Multiple Causation
remote
2. Sensitive to Context
5. Provenance or custody
3. Awareness of the interplay of continuity
and change in human affairs
Sensitivity to Multiple Causation
Every event or situation is the product of
multiple causes or factors, short-term
or long-term
Inquiry into all relevant condition and
circumstances that determine the
direction of human affairs
Sensitivity to Context
consciousness about how other times
and places differ from our own
Bridging the cultural and temporal gap
Interpreting the past using values and
beliefs of the past (historical
mindedness)
Continuity and Change
There can be “history” only when there
is change
