This document discusses the nature and methods of history. It outlines that history can be defined as both the past itself and accounts of the past. Historians reconstruct the past by selecting sources and evidence to analyze, but their accounts are subjective perspectives rather than perfect representations of what actually occurred. The document also notes that the process of historians analyzing sources can involve issues like relying on incomplete records and containing personal biases.

1. THE METHOD AND SKILLS OF
HISTORY:
A PRACTICAL GUIDE
Conal Furay
and Michael
Salevouris

2. OUTLINE
Uses of History
Nature of History
Process of History
Methods of Historical Analysis
The Question of Truth

3. CHAPTER 1. THE USES OF HISTORY
History is a window into the past
It helps us appreciate multiple
perspectives and
interpretations
Analyzing history strengthens our critical
thinking
skills

4. CHAPTER 1. THE USES OF HISTORY
History can be influential in shaping
human affairs.
History is a guide on making judgments.
History provides a better understanding
about the
present situation.

5. CHAPTER 2.
NATURE OF HISTORY:
HISTORY AS RECONSTRUCTION
.

6. History
is a
bunk.

7. WHAT IS HISTORY?
First: History is the sum total of everything that has
happened in the past.
 (history-as-actuality)
Second: History is an account of the past.
 (history-as-record)
“History is not ‘what happened in the past’;
rather, it is the act of selecting, analyzing, and writing
about the past…” (James Davidson and Mark Lytle, 1982)

8. THE NATURE OF HISTORY
History is…
…both the past and the study of
the past.

9. THE NATURE OF HISTORY
…visualize walking at night…
…a companion turns on a search light.

10. THE NATURE OF HISTORY
…the landscape
represent the past.
…the one with the
search light is the
historian.

11. THE NATURE OF HISTORY
This analogy may give us an idea of the nature
of history….
…but it is IMPERFECT.
NO ONE CAN PRESENT THE PAST AS IT
ACTUALLY WAS…

12. THE NATURE OF HISTORY
HISTORY is an individualized view…
A particular vision…
A personalized version…
…an act of creation…
AN ACT OF RE-CREATION.

14. THE PROCESS OF HISTORY
Historian must rely on surviving
records…
Historians are fallible, capable of error,
with personal biases, political beliefs,
economic status, and idiosyncrasies.
There is an element of subjectivity in
historical accounts.
Historians are justified in viewing an event
from any perspective they wish.
Historians could excessively focus on his or
her own viewpoint.

15. METHODS OF HISTORICAL
ANALYSIS
selection of a subject
collection of probable sources
examination for genuineness
extraction of credible particulars
= HISTORIOGRAPHY

16. THE QUESTION OF THE TRUTH
The past did happen. Limited records
of past events still constitute a tangible
link between past and present.
History is not fiction. History must be
based on available relevant evidence.
History is dynamic or constantly
changing.

17. EXERCISE:
The following statements use “history” in one or the other of its two
meanings: (1) the past itself or (2) an account of the past. Your task is to
decide which meaning of history the author of each statement intended.
Use “P” (for “Past”) to indicate passages that use the word “history” to
mean the past-as-reality, and “A” (for “Account”) to indicate passages that
use the word “history” to mean an account or accounts (a reconstruction)
of the past.
1. “Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history.” (Abraham Lincoln)
1. “History, as the study of the past, makes coherence of what happened
comprehensible by reducing events to a dramatic pattern and seeing
them in a simple form.” (Johan Huizinga)

18. 3. “History is baroque. It smiles at all attempts to force its flow into
theoretical patterns or logical grooves; it plays havoc with our
generations, breaks all rules.” (Will Durant)
4. “A page of history is worth a volume of logic.” (Oliver Wendell Holmes)

19. THANK YOU!