1.

The Job of the Historian

‘History’ comes from the Greek word historia, meaning
‘knowledge got from investigation’, or ‘enquiry’.
Historians collect their evidence from a wide variety of
sources. These sources can be written, non-written or oral. An
archive collects and stores mainly documentary sources. A
museum collects and stores objects for study and display. Apart
from seeing the original copy, historians can see sources that
have been photographed and stored on microfilm or microfiche.
Sources help historians make sense of what happened in the
past. The job of the historian is to use the sources to reconstruct
the past. They have to be able to judge the reliability and
usefulness of the sources.
Sources can be either primary or secondary. Primary sources
are those which come directly from the time being studied.
Secondary sources come from after the time being studied.
To find out if a source is reliable, historians have to examine the
point of view of the person who made the source. People are
biased or show bias when they deliberately select evidence to
strengthen their own case and weaken others. Prejudice is
judging before all the facts are known. People have prejudiced
opinions when they lack evidence for their beliefs, or when they
deny or ignore evidence. Propaganda is linked to bias and
prejudice.
Different kinds of sources – written, non-written and oral – have
different ways of presenting information to historians.
Most books were written by hand until the printing-press was
invented in the fifteenth century. They were called manuscripts.
An autobiography is a story of a person’s own life. Historical
novels can be helpful in recreating the atmosphere of earlier
times. Diaries and letters are primary sources. The role of the
government has become more important in our society. One
special task of the government is to keep a record of the
population. The population is counted in a census, which is
carried out every five or ten years. Newspapers have been
printed for almost 300 years. Ballads and songs are usually
written to promote a particular viewpoint.
Pictorial sources show us the way things were – the living
conditions, the dress, the buildings and the transport.
Photographs and paintings capture a moment in time. A cartoon
is a special type of drawing. Maps are an important source of
information for the historian.
Oral history is based on interviews or tape recordings of
people’s memories or recollections of events.
Artefacts and monuments demand special skill for study.
Time is very important to historians. The study of time
and dates is called chronology. We call each 10 year block a
decade. We combine 10 decades to make a century or 100 years.
We group these periods together and call them ages.
 The job of the historian – examining the evidence and
writing the history – demands many skills. Historians must be
able to locate the information, that is, do the research. Historians
must be able to sort the information they have found. They must
separate fact from opinion. Historians must understand causes.
They must have a feeling for the time they are studying, while
being able to stand back and make a judgement. They must have
a sense of time. They must be able to communicate their ideas
clearly to other people.