History of History

Most people believe that history is a "collection of facts about the past." ... History consists of making arguments about
what happened in the past on the basis of what people recorded (in written documents, cultural artifacts, or oral
traditions) at the time.

Meaning

History (from Greek ἱστορία, historia, meaning 'inquiry; knowledge acquired by investigation') is the past as it is
described in written documents, and the study thereof. Events occurring before written records are considered
prehistory

Types of History by Subfield:

 Political history: the story of government, political leaders, electoral activities, the making of policy, and
the interaction of branches of government

 Diplomatic history: the study of the relations between nations, diplomats, and ideas of diplomacy

 Social history: the study of ways and customs, of family, education, children, demography (population
change), and voluntary institutions (churches, for example)

 Cultural history: the study of language and its uses, of the arts and literature, sport, and entertainment, in
constructing cultural categories

 Economic history: the study of how an entire system of production and consumption (or of any of its parts)
works, of markets, industry, credit, and working people at all levels of the system

 Intellectual history: the study of ideology and epistemology, analyzing how ideas affect human actions and
how the material world affects human ideas

History is more than just studying what happened in the past. When you study a historical event, you also study a
society's culture, religion, politics, and economics. ... They try to see the past through the eyes of the people who
lived it. When they study the past, historians ask themselves questions.

Father of History

Herodotus
Cicero called Herodotus the “father of history.” Yet Arnaldo Momigliano, the great 20th-century
historiographer of the ancient world, ends his brilliant essay on Herodotus by noting, “It is a strange truth that
Herodotus has really become the father of history only in modern times.”

History: Primary & Secondary Sources

They can be firsthand testimony or evidence created during the time period that you are studying. Primary
sources may include diaries, letters, interviews, oral histories, photographs, newspaper articles, government
documents, poems, novels, plays, and music.

Three Types of Resources

Primary sources are original materials on which other research is based, including: original written works –
poems, diaries, court records, interviews, surveys, and original research/fieldwork, and. research published in
scholarly/academic journals.
There are two main types of historical sources: primary sources and secondary sources. A primary source is something
that originates from the past.

Types of Sources

 Scholarly publications (Journals)

 Popular sources (News and Magazines)
 Professional/Trade sources.
 Books / Book Chapters.
 Conference proceedings.
 Government Documents.
 Theses & Dissertations.

Primary sources are materials directly related to a topic by time or participation. These materials include letters,
speeches, diaries, newspaper articles from the time, oral history interviews, documents, photographs, artifacts, or
anything else that provides firsthand accounts about a person or event.

The study of history is important because it allows one to make more sense of the current world. One can look at past
economic and cultural trends and be able to offer reasonable predictions of what will happen next in today's world. One
can also understand why some rules exist in the modern world. For example, one can understand the importance of the
social welfare programs if one looks at the Great Depression and New Deal. We can also look back on the Civil Rights
movement and see why the United States puts so much effort into creating a system where everyone is equal before the
law and has equal access to public amenities. History also allows us to see how the United States gradually created the
Constitution after it had just fought a war against a central government that did not care for colonial interests. Without
a background in history, one does not appreciate why the Constitution was revolutionary for its time. More broadly,
history enables us to understand different cultures.

If those are not good reasons for studying history, one can study history because it allows one to exercise their critical
thinking skills. These critical thinking skills are important for all areas in life, academic and otherwise. Historians also
write a great deal; a study of history allows one to practice writing for different audiences.