The Nature of History
Purpose of historical study:
“the aim of history, then, is to know the elements of the present by understanding
what came into the present from the past.” --Frederick Jackson Turner
“The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” –William Faulkner
Historical craft:
Identifying and interpreting facts and ideas—making meaning of data;
recognizing patterns of continuity and change; applying the scientific method
of problem-solving (hypothesizing, gathering and interpreting evidence, reaching
conclusions); communicating knowledge through written literature
Historical sources:
Primary: documents and artifacts produced during the period under study
Secondary: documents and artifacts produced at a later time
Selectivity: the process of finding and not finding and choosing and not choosing
evidence to be used for an historical interpretation
Historical analysis:
Frame of reference: one’s world view; those things in a person’s background that
predispose the person toward a particular interpretation
Climate of opinion: those public events and prevailing ideas, issues and problems
of a particular era that impact one’s viewpoint; part of a person’s frame of
reference
Multiple Causation: the idea that complex events result from multiple causes
Present-mindedness: a tendency to assume that the past is like the present; to
project one’s time backward instead of having a real understanding of the past
Forces of history: abstract conceptual categories that support historical comprehension
1. religion
2. tradition (customs, values, mores) 3. economics
4. geography 5. science and technology 6. institutions 7. the individual
8. ideas