Fr {! ESSON2 | souRcES OF HISTORICAL BATA sourced fromartifacts thathave been left by the past. These fcStORTEALOIE-< facts can either be or remains, or the to the past. Thus, orig ich the historians construct meaning, ‘fg al sources are those materials from whi tt an object from the past or a testimony concerning the past on ‘at past. A historical work oy historic rearticulate, a source is : lepend to create their own depiction of th: which historians d / piction. The source provides evidence about 5 thus the result of such dej interpretation i ‘ an event; anda historical interpretation is an argument about the event, the existence of RUNEISEPEMAIRS? whose existence offer researchers a clue about the past. For example, the relics or remains of a prehistoric settlement. Artifacts can be found where an happenings can be found, for example, a potsherd, a coin, a ruin, a relics of hum: a piece of wreckage, a strand of hair, or other manuscript, a book, a portrait, a stamp, archaeological or anthropological remains. These objects, however, are never the happenings or the events; if written documents, they may be the results or the records of events. Whether artifacts or documents, they are materials out of which history may be written (Howell and Prevenier, 2001). ‘Testimonies of witnesses, whether oral or written, may have been created to serve as records or they might have been created for some other purposes. Alll these describe an event, such as the record of a property exchange, speeches, and commentaries. The historian deals with the aynamie lor genetic|(the becoming) as well as the ététic (the being) and aims at being iftérpretative (explaining why and how things happened and were interrelated) as well as des¢riptive (telling what happened, when and where, and who took part). Besides, such descriptive data as can be derived directly and immediately from surviving artifacts are only small parts of the periods to which they belong. A historical context can be given to them only if they can be placed in a human setting. The lives of human beings can be assumed from the retrieved artifacts, but without further evidence the human contexts of these artifacts can never be recaptured with any degree of certainty. WRITTEN SOURCES OF HISTORY Written sources are usually categorized in three ways: (1) narrative or literary, @ diplomatic or juridical, and (8) social documents. i . . m, * ve or literature are chronicles or tracts presented in narrative fon a ose motives for their composition va" inform widely. For example, t is typically composed in order to infor Av : READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HisTO!contemporaries or succeeding generations; a aawspaperartiele might be intended to shape opinion; the so-called @goldocument\or personal narrative such as a diary or memoir might be composed in order to persuade reader’ of the justice of the author's actions; a ovelorifilm might be made to entertain, to deliver a moral teaching, or to further a religious cause; a biography might be written in pr the subject's worth and achievements (a pialtejiyric, a public speech or publi text in praise of someone or something or hagiography, the writing of the lives of saints). A narrative source is therefore broader than what is usually convidered fiction(Howell & Prevenier, 2001). 2. Diplomiatiesourees are understood to be those which document/record an existing legal situation or createa new one, anditis these kinds of sources thal professional historians once treated as the purest, the “best” source. The classic diplomatic e of source is the charter, which a legal instrument. A legal document is usitally sealed or authenticated to provide evidence that a legal transaction has been completed and can be used as evidence in a judicial proceeding in case of dispute. Scholars differentiate those legal instruments issued by public authorities (such as kings or popes, the Supreme Court of the Philippines and Philippine Congress) from those involving only private parties (such as a will or a mortgage agreement). Diplomatic sources possess specific formal properties, such as hand and print style, the ink, the seal, for external properties and rhetorical devices and images for internal properties, which are determined by the norms of laws and by tradition. Such characters also vary in time (each generation has its own norms) and according to origin (each bureaucracy has its own traditions). 3. Social documents are information pertaining to economic, social, political, or judicial significance. They are records kept by bureaucracies. A few examples are government reports, such as municipal accounts, research findings, and documents like these parliamentary procedures, civil registry records, property registers, and records of census. NON-WRITTEN SOURCES OF HISTORY Unwritten sources are as essential as written sources. They are two types: the material evidence and oral evidence. 1. Materialveviderée, also known as avéhaeologicalevidence is one of the most important unwritten evidences. This include artistic creations such as pottery, jewelry, dwellings, graves, churches, roads, and others that tell a story about the past. These artifacts can tell a great deal about the ways of life of people in the past, and their culture. These artifacts can also reveal a great deal about the socio-cultural interconnections of the different groups of people especially when an object is unearthed in more one place. Commercial exchange may also be revealed by the presence of artifacts in different places. Even places that are thought to be insignificant, such as garbage pits, can provide valuable information to historians as these can be traces of a former settlement.Sometimes, archacological sites that are of interest to historians are uneartheg ing excavations for roads, sewer lines, and big building structures. Know, ee sites are purposely excavated with the hope of reconstructing and vnaterstanding their meaningful past. Moreover, archaeological finds suchas coins o monies can provide historians with significant information relating to government transactions during which the currencies were in circulation. Similarly, historians can get substantial information from drawings, etchings, paintings, films, and photographs. These are the visual representations of the past. 2. Oral evidence is also an important source of information for historians, Much are told by thé tales or sagas of ancient peoples and the folk songs or poputy rituals from the premodern period of Philippine history. During the present age, interviews is another major form of oral evidence. PRIMARY VERSUS SECONDARY SOURCES There are two general kinds of historical sources: direct or primary and indirect or secondary. 1. Primary sources are original, first-hand account of an event or period that are usually written or made during or close to the event or period. These sources are original and factual, not interpretive. Their key function is to provide facts. Examples of primary sources are diaries, journals, letters, newspaper and magazine articles (factual accounts), government records (census, marriage, military), photographs, maps, postcards, posters, recorded or transcribed speeches, interviews with participants or witnesses, interviews with people who lived during a certain time, songs, plays, novels, stories, paintings, drawings, and sculptures. 2. Secondary sourcesyon the other hand, are materials made by people long after the events being described had taken place to provide valuable interpretations of historical events. A secondary source analyzes and interprets primary sources. Itis an interpretation of second-hand account a historical event. Examples of sm, books written secondary sources are biographies, histories, literary critic . . ot by a third party about a historical event, art and theater reviews, newspaper Journal articles that interpret.