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How Do Historians Learn About The Past

Video 1: How practice historians know well-nigh the by?

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How do historians know about the past? For case, who invented the first modern solar day steam locomotive? Well, we know that was Robert Stephenson and his Stephenson's Rocket locomotive built in 1829.

How do we know this? We have the letters Robert wrote to his friend Henry Booth where he describes the initial testing of The Rocket locomotive. Then at that place are written accounts of the Rainhill Trials, the grand competition that The Rocket was designed and built for. We have printed handbills of the contest which bear witness images of the locomotives involved including The Rocket. And newspapers with first-hand reports on the solar day'south events.

Historians can and then accept all these and consider them alongside other relevant information they take, such as books by other authors, specialist manufactures and even looking at the artefacts themselves. In this case, the original Stephenson's Rocket has been preserved and is on display at the London Science museum.

Historians tin also share and hash out data they constitute with other historians, who in plough can proceed and share what they've learned with others.

Video ii: What is a primary source?

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How exercise historians know virtually the past? What is a primary source?

Well, primary sources arise from the flow being studied, such every bit government documents, private letters, newspaper reports, diaries, middle-witness accounts and so on.

Equally an case, permit's look at some principal source cloth from the Peterloo Massacre of 1819.

In Manchester on the morning time of August 16th, 1819, a peaceful mass meeting was called by pro-commonwealth and anti-poverty protesters to demand the vote. The speaker was famed orator Henry Hunt who addressed the 60,000 strong crowd nearly reforms.

The government idea the meeting was treasonous and an arrest warrant was issued for Henry Hunt in a bid to halt the protesting. When the protestors refused to finish the regime ordered the yeomanry to disperse the crowd.

Several people in the crowd were killed and hundreds more than wounded by the charging Hussars and infantry men. The historical result produced a wide range of primary source fabric and information technology's the historian's job to study all these to find out what happened.

Video 3: What is a secondary source?

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How do historians know virtually the by? What is a secondary source?

Well, secondary sources arise after the period being studied. There are lots of different kinds of secondary sources, partly because historians don't always approach their topics in the aforementioned way every time, and partly because 'secondary source' is a very broad category.

Every bit an case, let'due south wait at the inflow of the Metropolitan Police in 1829 and the sorts of secondary source cloth that has been produced most them. There are many specialist books virtually the history of the Met and how they were formed past the then Home Secretary Sir Robert Peel.

Books well-nigh criminal justice, in full general, tin also offering insights into why the Met was formed. Historians have also written about detailed aspects of the Met's development, such as the history of their uniform and how it's inverse over the years.

We tin can as well discover entries in reference dictionaries and encyclopaedias describing amid other things famous Met cases involving criminals like Dr Crippen and the Kray twins.

The Metropolitan Police have fifty-fifty written up their history from their signal of view on their own website. All these along with hundreds of other books and manufactures written by journalists, biographers and amateur authors are classed as secondary sources too.

Historians can use the wide range of secondary source material to respond lots of questions. But writing history is a complicated process. Different authors will accept differing views and opinions on the same subject.

Thinking of taking it farther?

If you desire to report history at university level, the free course 'Taking your outset steps in College Educational activity' or the introductory module 'Arts and languages admission module' can help you to decide which path to take and prepare you for study.

You lot tin written report history at The Open University through BAs in History, Humanities, or the Open BA, all of which are all-time begun via the module 'The Arts Past and Nowadays.

Source: https://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/history/how-do-historians-know-about-the-past

Posted by: lucktope2001.blogspot.com

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