Types of History and Historical Writing

Historical Sources

• Primary Sources: provide facts, e.g. documents, physical objects, oral and video accounts made at the present time and place being described.
• Secondary Sources: provide valuable interpretations of historical events, e.g. compiled by historians based on primary sources.
• Tertiary Sources: compile both primary and secondary sources, e.g. almanacs.

Historical Criticisms

• Historical criticism: examination of historical texts for their reliability, underlying meanings, and importance.
• Two types of historical criticism: internal and external criticism.
• External Criticism: concerns and questions about the authenticity of the historical source.
• Internal Criticism: deals with the reliability and credibility of the contents, and the relevance/importance of the information given by the document.

Test of Authenticity

• Examining the material for anachronisms, e.g. paper was rare in Europe before 15th century, pencils did not exist before 16th century, typewriting was not invented until 19th century.
• Identifying the handwriting, signatures, seal, letterhead, or watermark by comparing with another authentic specimen through paleography, sigillography, and diplomatics.

Locating Primary Sources

• National libraries and archives, e.g. The National Library and The National Archives of the Philippines.
• Academic institutions, e.g. UP Main Library, Ateneo de Manila’s Rizal Library, USC Cebuano Studies Center.
• Archives outside the Philippines and online Filipiniana collections.

Philippine Historiography

• Reconstruction of Philippine History considers foreign documentary sources and cross-disciplinary findings in anthropology, geography, and other related fields in social sciences.
• Colonial History: Spanish and American period, with different perspectives and biases.
• Philippine Historiographers: notable historians and their contributions to Philippine history, e.g. Rizal, del Pilar, Jaena, Bonifacio, Jacinto, Aguinaldo, Mabini, Paterno, Palma, Tavera, de los Santos, Kalaw, and others.

Characterization of Philippine Historiography

• 1. Historiography: the practice of historical writing, including archaeology and geography.
• Types of history according to Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Friedrich Nietzsche, e.g. original, reflective, universal, pragmatic, critical, monumental, antiquarian, and philosophy of history.

Sources of History

• Challenges with primary sources: ability of historians to read and understand texts in foreign languages, and discerning the cultural context and historical value of primary sources.
• Importance of reading primary sources in their original language, and the limitations of relying on translations.

Test your knowledge on different types of history and the practice of historical writing, from original to critical history. Learn about modern historical writing which includes archaeology and geography. Explore the philosophy of history and sources of history.