CHAPTER 2 – THE DIFFERENT HISTORICAL SOURCES AND CRITICISM
2.2. TYPES OF HISTORICAL SOURCES
SOURCES
It is anything that has been left behind by the past. They are called 'sources' because they provide us with
information, which can add to the sum of our knowledge of the past.
CATEGORIES OF SOURCES
1. Documents - written or printed materials that have been produced in one form or another sometime in the past.
2. Numerical records - any type of numerical data in printed or handwritten form.
3. Oral statements - any form of statement made orally by someone.
4. Relics - any objects whose physical or visual characteristics can provide some information about the past.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF SOURCES
A. PRIMARY SOURCES
A primary source is a document or physical object which was written or created during the time under study. These
sources were present during an experience or time period and offer an inside view of a particular event. Primary sources
give us first hand, you-are-there insights into the past. They are also the most important tools an historian has for
developing an understanding of an event. Primary sources serve as the evidence an historian uses in developing an
interpretation and in building an argument to support that interpretation.
Primary source can come in the form of written sources such as documents, archival materials, letters, government
records, parish records, court transcripts and business ledgers. Primary sources can also be non-written. They can come in
the form of artifacts such as the Manunggul Jar; edifices like colonial churches; clothes, jewelry, and farming implements.
OTHER EXAMPLES OF PRIMARY SOURCES
Autobiography - an account of a person’s life written by that person. Autobiographical works can take many forms, from
the intimate writings made during life that were not necessarily intended for publication.
Memoir - a history or record composed from personal observation and experiences.
Diary - a form of autobiographical writing is a regularly kept record of the diarist’s activities and reflections. Written
primarily for the writer’s use alone, the dairy has a frankness that in unlike writing done for publication.
Personal Letter - a type of letter (or informal composition) that usually concerns personal matters (rather than
professional concerns) and is sent from one individual to another.
Correspondence - a body of letters or communications. If you have ever had a pen pal or an email friend, you have
written plenty of correspondence.
Interview - a conversation where questions are asked and answer are given. It refers to one-on-one conversation with one
person acting in the role of the interviewer and the other in the role of the interviewee.
Survey - a list of questions aimed at extracting specific data from a particular group of people. Surveys may be conducted
by phone, mail, via internet, and face-to-face on busy street corners in malls. Survey research is often used to assess
thoughts, opinions, and feelings.
Field research or fieldwork - the collection of information outside a laboratory, library or workplace setting. Field research
involves a range of well-defined, although variable, methods: informal interviews, direct observation, participation in the
life of the group, collective discussions, analyzes of personal documents produced within the group, self-analysis, results
from activities undertaken off, or on-line, and life histories.
Photographs and posters - are often considered it can illustrate past events as they happened and people as they were at
a particular time.
Paintings - a form of visual art where paint or ink is used on a canvas or more often in the past, wooden panels or plaster
walls, to depict an artist’s rendering of a scene or even an abstract.
Drawing - a form of visual art in which a person uses various drawing instruments to mark peer or another two-
dimensional medium.
Speech - is a form of communication in spoken language, made by a speaker before an audience for a given purpose.
B. SECONDARY SOURCES
A secondary source is a document or recording that relates or discusses information originally presented elsewhere.
Secondary sources involve generalization, analysis, synthesis, interpretation, or evaluation of the original information.
It is a document prepared by an individual who was not a direct witness to an event, but who obtained his or her
description of the event from someone else. It includes secondhand information, such as s description of an event by
someone other than an eyewitness, or a textbook author’s explanation of an event or theory.
EXAMPLES OF SECONDARY SOURCES
Bibliographies an annotated bibliography is an organized list of sources, each of which is followed by a brief note or
“annotation”. These annotations do one or more of the following: describe the content and focus of the book or article,
suggest the source’s usefulness to your research, evaluate its method, conclusion, or reliability and record your reactions to
the source.
Biographical Works A biography is a description of a real person’s life, including factual details as well as stories from the
person’s life. It includes information about the subject’s personality and motivations, and other kinds of intimate details
excluded in a general overview or profile of a person’s life.
Periodicals are newspapers, magazines, and scholarly journals-all of which are published “periodically”. (News Paper,
Magazines and Journals).
Literature review is an evaluation report of information found in the literature related to your selected area of study. (Film
Review and Book Review)
C. TERTIARY SOURCES
It provides third-hand information by reporting ideas and details from secondary sources. This does not mean that
tertiary sources have no value, merely that they include the potential for an additional layer of bias.
EXAMPLES OF TERTIARY SOURCES
Library - a collection of sources of information and similar resources, made accessible to a defined community for
reference and borrowing.
Archive - an accumulation of historical records or the physical place they are located. We find primary sources in the
archives. There are many kinds of archives, such as those maintained by a religious order, which are called religious
archives. In the Philippines, the Dominicans have the Dominican Archives which is found in the University of Santo Tomas.
The Jesuits have theirs at the Ateneo de Manila University. Some schools have their own respective archives such as the
University of the Philippines.
Museum - an institution that cares for (conserves) a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical
or scientific importance.
Historical Society (sometimes also preservation society) is an organization dedicated to preserving, collecting, researching
and interpreting historical information or items.
IMPORTANCE OF USING SOURCES
1. Engage students. Primary sources help students relate in a personal way to events of the past and promote a deeper
understanding of history as a series of human events. Because primary sources are snippets of history, they
encourage students to seek additional evidence through research. First-person accounts of events helps make them
more real, fostering active reading and response.
2. Develop critical thinking skills. In analyzing sources, students move from concrete observations and facts to
questioning and making inferences about the materials. Questions of creator bias, purpose, and point of view may
challenge students’ assumptions.
3. Construct knowledge. Inquiry into sources encourages students to wrestle with contradictions and compare multiple
sources that represent differing points of view, confronting the complexity of the past. Students construct
knowledge as they form reasoned conclusions, base their conclusions on evidence, and connect sources to the
context in which they were created, synthesizing information from multiple sources. Integrating what they glean
from comparing sources with what they already know, and what they learn from research, allows students to
construct content knowledge and deepen understanding.
4. First-hand Knowledge. Primary sources provide first-hand knowledge to the students. It helps students to
understand the events in history.
5. To consider different points of view in analysis. In analyzing primary sources, students move from concrete
observations and facts to inferences about the materials. “Point of view” is one of the most important inferences
that can be drawn.
6. To understand the continuum of history. Students come to understand that we all participate in making history
every day, leaving behind primary source documentation hence may examine as a record of “the past.” The
immediacy of first-person accounts of events is compelling to most students.
7. To acquire empathy for the human condition. Primary sources help students relate personally to events of the past,
gaining a deeper understanding of history as a series of human events.
