Difference between revisions of "Methods & Sources of Historical Research"
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== The Nature of Archives and Primary Source Material == | == The Nature of Archives and Primary Source Material == | ||
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* Notion of difference between primary and secondary sources... but its quite fuzzy | * Notion of difference between primary and secondary sources... but its quite fuzzy | ||
* Primary = unmediated access to past (not processed by another mind) | * Primary = unmediated access to past (not processed by another mind) | ||
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* Does digitization undermine the authority of the historian who derives his/her authority on basis on having the ability to find the primary source material? - should not be - because the historian should define his/her role based on his/her ability to contextualise | * Does digitization undermine the authority of the historian who derives his/her authority on basis on having the ability to find the primary source material? - should not be - because the historian should define his/her role based on his/her ability to contextualise | ||
* Primary sources tend to be gathered and held in institutions called archives. historians tend to be interested in written material. others look at other types of materials , objects, material culture, etc. | * Primary sources tend to be gathered and held in institutions called archives. historians tend to be interested in written material. others look at other types of materials , objects, material culture, etc. | ||
| + | * archive - gatekeepers? destroyed by organisations because deemed not of interest? | ||
| + | * uk? governments destroy 90%? of records - horrifying but also liberating | ||
| + | * previously history was dead white male europeans, now there is a broadening of history | ||
| + | * an archive is a set of staff to administer a procedure of cataloguing and ordering | ||
| + | * the diff between archival and library catalogue is that libraries have certain systems which attempt to divide human knowledge into recognisable chunks | ||
| + | * archive - institutional procedure orders it rather the dewey | ||
| + | * archive - not published material | ||
| + | * library - published | ||
| + | * brick and mortar reality to an archive (not pure virtual) | ||
| + | * talking about it in relation to organisation / but also there is question of power of access / gatekeeper | ||
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| + | * point is that we will need to apply a different method of accessing / searching when using archives (compared to libraries) as they are accessed differently | ||
Revision as of 11:49, 11 July 2016
Notes from a course on methods and sources of historical research at IHR, 11 July 2016 - 15 July 2016
The Nature of Archives and Primary Source Material
- Notion of difference between primary and secondary sources... but its quite fuzzy
- Primary = unmediated access to past (not processed by another mind)
- Newspapers = a report of what has been told. testimonies are primary but the reporter has chewed thru the material.
- Historians make statements about things which should be believed - by people who don't have access to primary sources
- Having looked at the primary sources = is the reason why people listen to historians
- Does digitization undermine the authority of the historian who derives his/her authority on basis on having the ability to find the primary source material? - should not be - because the historian should define his/her role based on his/her ability to contextualise
- Primary sources tend to be gathered and held in institutions called archives. historians tend to be interested in written material. others look at other types of materials , objects, material culture, etc.
- archive - gatekeepers? destroyed by organisations because deemed not of interest?
- uk? governments destroy 90%? of records - horrifying but also liberating
- previously history was dead white male europeans, now there is a broadening of history
- an archive is a set of staff to administer a procedure of cataloguing and ordering
- the diff between archival and library catalogue is that libraries have certain systems which attempt to divide human knowledge into recognisable chunks
- archive - institutional procedure orders it rather the dewey
- archive - not published material
- library - published
- brick and mortar reality to an archive (not pure virtual)
- talking about it in relation to organisation / but also there is question of power of access / gatekeeper
- point is that we will need to apply a different method of accessing / searching when using archives (compared to libraries) as they are accessed differently
