HISTORY

AND
HISTORIANS
What do you think?
If history is written with agenda or is heavily
influenced by the historian, is it possible to
come up with an absolute historical truth?
HISTORY AND THE HISTORIANS
Historians only get to access
representation of the past through
historical sources and evidences.
Therefore, it is the historian’s job to
seek historical evidences and facts
but also to interpret these facts.
“FACTS CANNOT
SPEAK FOR
THEMSELVES”
Historian’s GOAL
It is the job of the historians to:
- give meaning to facts and organize them into
timeline
- establish causes
- write history.
What are their sources or
historical basis?
Historical sources can be identified into three:
- primary sources
- secondary sources
- tertiary sources
• Primary sources are those sources produced
at the same time as the event, period, or
subject being studied.
• A primary source contains first-hand
information or original data on a topic.
• Primary sources are often created at the time
of an event, but can also recorded at a later
time (e.g. memories or interviews).
• Primary sources provide insights into how
people view their world at a particular time. It
is important to evaluate primary sources for
accuracy.
• Secondary sources are those sources,
which were produced by an author who
used primary sources to produce the
material.
• Secondary sources are historical sources
which studied a certain historical subject.
• secondary sources are also considered as
published or unpublished work that is one
step removed from the original source.
• Secondary sources usually describes,
summarizes, analyses, evaluates,
interprets or reviews primary source
materials.
Exercise:
Identify if the given picture is
a secondary source or a
primary source.
Primary Source
Primary Source
Secondary
Source
Primary Source
Secondary Source
Primary Source
Secondary
Source
Primary Source
Primary
Source
Primary
Source
 • Artwork
• Diary
Primary • Interview
Source • Letters
• Newspaper clippings
• Government records
• Photographs
• Eyewitness Accounts
 • Textbooks
• Almanac
Secondary • Serials
Source • Books
• Visual and Audio
Materials (Recordings)
• Journal Articles
• Reviews
To avoid deception and to come up historical truth,
historians should scrutinize secondary and primary
sources through criticism.

External Criticism

Internal Criticism
External Criticism
- Is the practice of verifying the authenticity of evidence
by examining its;
Physical characteristics
Consistency with the historical characteristics
Materials used for the evidence
Possible guiding questions in making
an External Analysis
• When was the source made?
• Who are the people responsible in creating it?
• What material was used in creating the
source?
• What is the relationship of the source from
the date it was made
Internal Criticism
- Is the examination o the truthfulness o evidence.
- It looks at the content of the source and examines the
circumstance of its production.
- Internal criticism looks at the truthfulness and
factuality of the evidence by looking at the author of
the source, its content, the agenda behind its
creation, the knowledge which informed it, and its
intended purpose, among others.
Possible guiding questions in making
an Internal Analysis
• What cultural tradition does the source
display?
• For what purpose is the source being made?
• What do you think is the authors point of view
or purpose in creating/writing the source?
• What effects does it give to the people living
in that certain culture?
Activity : 1 whole sheet of paper
-Research for a song which talks about the
Filipino Culture.
-Make an Internal and External Analysis
out of it and
-Present the song and analysis next
meeting.
Criteria:
20pts – Analysis
20pts – Presentation (creativity
and audience impact)