What+is+History?

The Basics of History Now really history is just a record of events that have passed. How do we know that these things have happened? It comes down to some heavy duty research. Think about everything that you use throughout a normal day. This would include anything that you create. In my normal day I use a variety of items such as a guitar, computer, toothbrush, brush, ipod, tablet, car, keys, pens, highlighters, knife, fork, spoon etc. (I think you get the point!) Each of these things says something about my normal day. Each by itself tells you very little about me. When you look at the whole picture however you can get a better picture of what I was doing. This same concept is what goes into historical research. Having just one article, picture, letter, recording, artifact will tell a historian little about an event, person or part of history. When many different pieces are collected the full picture of history comes into view. It is these collections that have created the history that we know of today. This history changes depending on who is looking at the pieces, so our history evolves as new items are found and evaluated. EXCITING right!? To start this process the historian needs to have an understanding of the period of history. This information comes from your textbook. Your textbook should be used to give yourself background so that the real history can be done. This "real" history involves evaluation and discussion. This is why your textbook is only a resource. There is not much room in it to question or doubt. Really history is about perspective and questioning why. The one place someone will not get too frustrated when you ask the question why? The difference now is how YOU find your answer to the questions! This can be found in evaluating primary sources. These will give you many different perspectives when you begin to evaluate it. You might be wondering what a primary source is. A primary source is an original item that is created during the time period of study. These items can be any of the following: (http://www.lib.umd.edu/guides/primary-sources.html) These can help any historian identify and evaluate what happened in the past. These documents are what history is about. It is through the voices of the people who created these that we are able to uncover the truth about what happened in our nations past. Watch the video below to see the reason that we need to use primary sources to understand the full picture of events in our past.
 * Artifacts (e.g. coins, plant specimens, fossils, furniture, tools, clothing, all from the time under study);
 * Audio recordings (e.g. radio programs)
 * Diaries;
 * Internet communications on email, listservs;
 * Interviews (e.g., oral histories, telephone, e-mail);
 * Journal articles published in peer-reviewed publications;
 * Letters;
 * Newspaper articles written at the time;
 * <span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">Original Documents (i.e. birth certificate, will, marriage license, trial transcript);
 * <span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">Patents;
 * <span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">Photographs
 * <span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">Proceedings of Meetings, conferences and symposia;
 * <span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">Records of organizations, government agencies (e.g. annual report, treaty, constitution, government document);
 * <span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">Speeches;
 * <span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">Survey Research (e.g., market surveys, public opinion polls);
 * <span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">Video recordings (e.g. television programs);
 * <span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">Works of art, architecture, literature, and music (e.g., paintings, sculptures, musical scores, buildings, novels, poems).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Myriad Pro',Myriad,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">Web site.