This document provides an overview of historical research methods. It discusses why historical research is important, as the past influences the present. Key historical methods discussed include historiography, biography, case studies, oral histories, and analyzing primary and secondary sources like documents, literature, art, photographs and archives. The document emphasizes locating reliable sources and critically evaluating them for accuracy and validity. It provides examples of analyzing primary sources from individuals like Florence Nightingale, Joan of Arc and related to topics like witches and nursing history.

1. It’s About Time: Historical
Methods as Qualitative Research
Karen Saucier Lundy, PhD, RN, FAAN
Professor Emeritus
The University of Southern Mississippi
College of Nursing

2. History does not refer merely, or
even principally, to the past. On
the contrary, the great force of
history comes from the fact that
we carry it with us, are
unconsciously controlled by it, in
many ways, and history is
literally present in all that we
do.”
-James Baldwin

3. Why historical research?
Been there, done that….
•Historical influences “run in the
background” of contemporary
issues
•Bring background to the
contemporary forefront to
illuminate the present and direct
the future
•Means to understand values, beliefs
and received wisdom

4. “The past is never dead. It’s not
even past.”
William Faulkner
—Gavin Stevens
Act I, Scene III, Requiem for a Nun

5. Historians are like deaf people
who go on answering questions
that no one has asked them.
Leo Tolstoy

6. Vincent Van Gogh

7. Historical Methods
Historiograph
y
Biography
Concept
Event
Phenomena
Era

8. Don’t know much about
history…
Recent studies indicate we don’t know or care
too much about history…

9. Easy for you to say..what is
historiography?
Synthesis of gathering data
of a particular period in
history to analyze and develop
theoretical and holistic
conclusions

10. A historian studies history
and may teach
history…the
historiographer writes and
interprets history.

11. History is a myth that men
agree to believe.
-Napoleon Bonaparte
History is the lie commonly
agreed upon.
-Voltaire

12. Historian as detective….
Historians look under stones…not just describing the
appearance and location of the stone.

13. Dwell on the past and you'll lose
an eye. Forget the past and you'll
lose both eyes.
-Russian proverb

14. Types of Historical Studies
• Case studies
• Autobiographies
• Life histories
• Oral histories

15. So where does one begin….
Which way, what stone???

16. One thing about the
past,
It is likely to last.
Some of it is horrid
and some sublime,
And there is
more of it all the
time.
Ogden Nash

17. Data Sources
•Primary Sources
►First person “eyewitness”
accounts
•Secondary Sources
►One or more steps removed,
interpreted by others.

18. Written original documents
• Letters
• Diaries
• Journals
• Scribbling
• Literature

19. Florence Nightingale contract with new
nurse at Scutari
1854
Memorandum of Agreement made
this first day of December 1854 Between
Miss Nightingale on the one part and Mrs. Hefferman
of London on the other part.
Whereas the said Miss Nightingale Superintendent
has undertaken to provide Female Nurses for the Sick
and Wounded of the British Army serving in Turkey, And
to pay all expenses of return to this Country, should
Sickness render it necessary for the said Mrs. Hefferman
Mrs. Hefferman to return, Save and except
such return shall be rendered necessary by the
discharge of the said Mrs. Hefferman
for neglect of duty, immoral conduct, or intoxication,
in which case the said Mrs. Hefferman
shall forfeit all claim upon Miss Nightingale
from the period of such discharge. And the
said Mrs. Hefferman hereby agrees
to devote her whole time and attention to the purposes
aforesaid under the directions and to the satisfaction
of the said Superintendent, the whole of whose orders
she undertakes to obey, until discharged by the said
Superintendent.

20. For what is Mysticism? Is it not the
attempt to draw near to God, not by
rites or ceremonies, but by inward
disposition? Is it not merely a hard
word for 'The Kingdom of Heaven is
within'? Heaven is neither a place nor a
time.
Florence Nightingale, 1873

21. Literature
• Fiction
• Non Fiction
• Poetry
• Published…and
unpublished
• Children’s stories

22. Art forms
• Paintings
• Sculpture
• Photographs

23. Florence Nightingale 1858

24. Where to look…and listen..using
ALL your senses
• Diaries
• Newspapers
• Minutes of meetings
• Eye witness accounts
• Official documents
• Maps
• Letters
• Art
• Music
• Theater, films

25. Salem Nurse Witches Death
Warrant Trial June 29 1692
•
Whereas Sarah Good Wife of William Good of Salem Village Rebecka
Nurse wife of Francis Nurse of Salem Villiage Susanna Martin of
Amesbury Widow Elizabeth How wife of James How of Ipswich Sarah
Wild Wife of John Wild of Topsfield all of the County of Essex in their
Maj'ts Province of ye Massachusetts Bay in New England Att A Court
of Oyer & Terminer held by Adjournment for Our Soveraign Lord &
Lady King William & Queen Mary for ye said County of Essex at Salem
in the s'd County on ye 29th day of June [torn] were Severaly arraigned
on Several Indictments for the horrible Crime of Witchcraft by them
practised & Committed On Severall persons and pleading not guilty
did for their Tryall put themselves on God & Thier Countrey
whereupon they were Each of them found & brought in Guilty by ye
Jury that passed On them according to their respective Indictments and
Sentence of death did then pass upon them as the Law directs
Execution whereof yet remains to be done:

26. Locating sources…
• Leave no stone unturned
• Museums
• Online databases
• Libraries
• Personal belongings…the attic!
• Personal contacts

27. First stage…
• Identify phenomenon
• Read, read, read! Yes, novels too!
• Listen to what “those who know” say
• Listen to music
• Observe art
• Watch select films
• Select time period or era

28. Second stage…
• Develop research question, hypothesis
• Identify theoretical perspective

29. To use theory or not…
• Conceptual framework, such as
postmodernism, critical theory, helps
focus and decipher historical events as
recorded.
• Historical investigation and analysis
always about knowable truth.

30. Next…
• Data exploration and collection
• Digitalization of data sources
• Back up data and then back up again!
• Time and labor intensive!

31. What have I found…and what
now??
• Fact checking
• Validity and reliability
• Analysis of data from source
• Evaluation of located data
• Meaning of missing data
• Determination of patterns,
generalization, themes…

32. How much faith can we have
in the accuracy of the
historical picture given?
Are the generalization made
from the historical cases
legitimate?

33. It has been said that although God
cannot alter the past, historians can. It
is perhaps because they can be useful
to him in this respect that he tolerates
their existence.
Samuel Butler

34. Reliability of Data Sources
• Establishing authenticity
• Evaluating “survival bias”
• Comparison to other types of data
sources from same era or of similar
phenomena
• Corroboration
• Internal criticism
• Meaning and language and culture

35. Validity of Data Sources
• External critique of data
•Paper or source “age”
•Writing style of author
•Origin
•Consistency with other evidence
•Verification by experts

36. Validity of Data Sources
• Data should include at least two
sources of same type of information
• ►Two primary sources, without conflict or
disagreement.
• ►One primary source and one independent
secondary source, corroborated with
primary source and NO substantial
contradictory information.

37. A rose by any other name..is not
always a rose
↕Understand how words are used in past
contexts as compared to contemporary usage.
“…if I were condemned and brought to the
place of judgment and I saw the torch lit and
the faggots ready, and the executioner ready
to kindle the fire, and if I were within the fire,
yet I would say nothing else and I would
maintain unto death what I have said in this
trial." Joan of Arc at her trial in Rouen,
France.

38. “Historical truth does exist,
not in the scientific sense,
but as a reasonable
approximation of the past. “
-Foner"

39. German Nurses
of the
Third Reich

40. Joan of Arc

41. "Rouen! Rouen! Must I die here? Ah,
Rouen, I fear you will have to suffer
for my death!"
“I am not afraid... I was born to do this.”
Jeanne d’Arc

42. Purvis MS Tornado of 1908

43. Student Nurses 1945

44. Biography

45. Nurse Corps 1918 Camp
Sherman

46. Diaries….

47. Witches in Art

48. Archives and Libraries

49. Witches, Midwives and Nurses
(Ehrenreich,English, 1973)

50. Lady with the Lamp

51. Nightingale on Women…
Women never have a half-hour in all their
lives (excepting before or after anybody
is up in the house) that they can call
their own, without fear of offending or
of hurting someone. Why do people sit
up so late, or, more rarely, get up so
early? Not because the day is not long
enough, but because they have 'no time
in the day to themselves.' [1852]

52. • "There are plenty of other women to
do it."

53. Nightingale…in photos

54. Nightingale and Joan of Arc
I can stand out the war with any man.
F.N.
I stand at the altar of the murdered men,
and, while I live, I fight their cause.
F.N.

55. 1412 -1431 Jeanne d’Arc
• "Pass that by [Passez outré]. I was thirteen when I
had a Voice from God for my help and guidance. The
first time that I heard this Voice, I was very much
frightened; it was mid-day, in the summer, in my
father's garden. I had not fasted the day before. I
heard this Voice to my right, towards the Church;
rarely do I hear it without its being accompanied also
by a light. This light comes from the same side as the
Voice. Generally it is a great light. Since I came into
France I have often heard this Voice."

56. 1412 -1431 Jeanne d’Arc
In God's name, we must fight them! Even if
the English hang from the clouds, yet we
shall have them! For God sends us to punish
them.
"If I am not, may God put me there, and if I
am, may God so keep me! I should be the
saddest creature in the world if I knew I was
not in His grace."

57. Article 2 Joan of Arc
Condemnation Trial
Act of Accusation
• ARTICLE 2
• The Accused, not only this year, but from her infancy, and not only in your Diocese, Bishop,
and your jurisdiction, Deputy, but also in many other places of this kingdom, had done,
composed, contrived and ordained a number of sacrileges and superstitions : she made
herself a diviner; she caused herself to be adored and venerated; she had invoked demons,
and evil spirits; consulted them, associated with them, had made and had with them
compacts, treaties, and conventions, had made use of them, had furnished to others, acting
in the same manner, aid, succor, and favor, and had, in much, led them on to act like
herself; she had said, affirmed, and maintained that to act thus, to use witchcraft,
divination's, superstitions, was not a sin, was not a forbidden thing, but, on the contrary, a
thing lawful, to be praised, worthy of approval; also she had led into these errors and evil
doings a very great number of persons of divers estates, of both sexes, and had imprinted
on their hearts the most fatal errors. Jeanne had been taken and arrested within the limits of
your diocese of Beauvais, in the very act (flagrante delicto) of perpetrating all these
misdoings.
• "What have you to say to this Article?"
• "I deny ever having used witchcraft, superstitious works, or divination's. As to allowing
myself to be adored, if any kissed my hands and my garments, it was not my doing or by
my wish; I sought to protect myself from it, and to prevent it as much as in me lay. And as
for the rest of the Article, I deny it."

58. Relevance of History
It may seem a strange principle to
enunciate as the very first requirement
in a Hospital that it should do the sick
no harm. F.N. [1859]

59. Jeanne d’Arc

60. Joan of Arc

61. Jeanne d’Arc

62. Witches now…

63. Malleus Maleficarum
“The Witches Hammer”
All wickedness is but little to the wickedness of a
woman. ... What else is woman but a foe to
friendship, an unescapable punishment, a necessary
evil, a natural temptation, a desirable calamity,
domestic danger, a delectable detriment, an evil
nature, painted with fair colours. ... Women are by
nature instruments of Satan -- they are by nature
carnal, a structural defect rooted in the original
creation."
Malleus maleficarum (The Hammer of Witches), 1485-
86. “

64. Malleus Maleficarum
“The Witches Hammer”

65. Finally…
• Writing conclusions, interpretations,
and presenting supporting evidence.
• Defend your ideas!

66. Data Analysis and Report
• Interpretation of meaning
• Use of extensive and diverse examples
• Critical description of evidence
• What wasn’t found
• Historical significance to present
• Creative narratives
• Leave a trail of evidence
• Include all detailed sources
• What’s next?

67. Sampling
• The mere existence of data screams meaning!
• Locate every relevant documentary
source..and then some
• Selection of data based on purpose of
research.
• Lost, found, lost again, or never saw the light
of day!
• Possible distortion and destruction of data

68. Assume little to nothing…
• Knowledge…and being
literate…was and is
power!
• Church and
government documents
• Young girls and their
diaries
• Surviving art versus
closet art

69. Consider these…
• Art work of Holocaust victims
• Diary of Anne Frank
• Trials of witches in Europe
• Joan of Arc

70. Translation of translations…and
what humans leave behind
• Recognize major
disadvantage…researcher cannot
compare their own experiences or
culture to historical study.
YOU WERE NOT THERE no matter
how much you see, hear or read!

71. Conceptual ideas, themes, critical
person in historical context
• History of reproductive rights
• Margaret Singer, founder of Planned
Parenthood
• Control of family size in medieval
Greece

72. Future trends in historical
research..what is there is nothing
to study?
• Temporality of internet
• Technology, texting, email…
• Speeches
• Social Networks
• Letter writing…what is that?
• Storytelling

73. History is written by the winners.
-George Orwell

74. Did it really happen that
way?