Learning Module

Readings in Philippine History

The Faculty
Department of Arts and Sciences
Cavite State University
General Trias ǀ Trece Martiresǀ Tanza Campus
Chapter 1: Meaning and Relevance of history

After the completion of the chapter, students will be able to:

1. evaluate primary sources for their credibility, authenticity and provenance.

History is the analysis and interpretation of the human past enabling us to study continuity
and changes that are taking place over time. It is an act of both investigation and imagination
that seeks to explain how people have changed over time. Historians use all forms of evidence
to examine, interpret, revisit, and reinterpret the past. These include not just written documents,
but also oral communication and objects such as buildings, artifacts, photographs, and
paintings.

The origin of the word History is associated with the Greek word ‘Historia’ which means
‘information’ or ‘an enquiry designed to elicit truth’.

History has been defined differently by different scholars. Following definitions indicate
the meaning and scope of History.

Burckhardt: “History is the record of what one age finds worthy of note in another.”

Henry Johnson: “History, in its broadest sense, is everything that ever happened.”

Smith, V.S: “The value and interest of history depend largely on the degree in which the
present is illuminated by the past.”

Nature of History:

1. A study of the present in the light of the past: The present has evolved out of the
past. Modern history enables us to understand how society has come to its present form
so that one may intelligently interpret the sequence of events;
2. History is the study of man: History deals with man’s struggle through the ages.
History is not static. By selecting “innumerable biographies” and presenting their lives in
the appropriate social context and the ideas in the human context, we understand the
sweep of events.
3. History is concerned with man in time: It deals with a series of events and each event
occurs at a given point in time. Human history, in fact, is the process of human
development in time. It is time which affords a perspective to events and lends a charm
that brightens up the past.
4. History is concerned with man in space: The interaction of man on environment and
vice versa is a dynamic one. History describes about nations and human activities in the
context of their physical and geographical environment. Out of this arise the varied
trends in the political, social, economic and cultural spheres of man’s activities and
achievements.
5. Multisided: All aspects of the life of a social group are closely interrelated and historical
happenings cover all these aspects of life, not limited only to the political aspect that had
so long dominated history.
6. History is a dialogue between the events of the past and progressively emerging
future ends. The historian’s interpretation of the past, his selection of the significant and
the relevant events, evolves with the progressive emergence of new goals.

Why Study History?

■ History helps you discover how your world evolved.

■ History trains your mind and teaches you how to think and process info.
■ The pursuit of historical events and people is fun - a form of time travel.
■ A lack of historical knowledge prevents people from truly understanding the world
they live in
■ History helps you understand the origins of modern political and social problems.
■ History lets you learn how and why people behaved as they did.
■ History makes you appreciate that people in the past were not just 'good' or 'bad', but
motivated in complex and inconsistent ways, just like us.
■ History helps you make sense of most other subjects.
■ History provides you with the skills employers are looking for.
■ History gives you back your past.
■ Without an understanding of the past, the present doesn't make much sense

Different Types of History

Every subject we study has its own purpose, reason, and importance behind it. Among all
the subjects, why do we study history and why is it an important subject? It is because history is
a study that deals with the past, described in written formats.

History has been divided into 6 different types namely: 1. Political History 2. Diplomatic
History 3. Cultural History 4. Social History 5. Economic History 6. Intellectual History.

1. Political History: Political History is the narration of the evolution of the political related
matters of the past. This branch of history deals with the analysis of political leaders,
ideas, events, movements, activities and so on, along with the making of government
policies (constitutions etc). This branch of history focuses on the study of normative
beliefs as it is believed to be the reason behind the historical changes. 

2. Diplomatic History: Considered to be started in the nineteenth century, Diplomatic

history is the branch of history that focuses on the study of international relations
between nations (between states). This history tends to be more concerned with the
history of diplomacy and the ideas of diplomacy and much more. 

3. Cultural History: Cultural history is the branch of history that deals with the traditions
and cultural interpretation of the past. It is a study of various facets of human and
history. Simply, cultural history records and interprets various past events involving
human beings like literature, sport, and entertainment and much more.

4. Social History: The history which focuses on the study of various societal norms like
ways of living, standard, customs, disciplines, status and so on of the people, alongside
the demography. Simply, it is a branch of history which looks at the lived experience of
the past. Today, social history is otherwise called the New Social History.

5. Economic History: Economic history is the branch of history that focuses on the study
of economies as well as economical phenomena of the past. Simply, the study of the
pattern of the production, consumption alongside industry, market and so on concerning
the past, economic history aims to understand the historical events of the economical
processes.

6. Intellectual History: The history which aims to understand the ideas (ideology and
philosophy) by understanding the political, cultural, intellectual, and social context of the
past. Intellectual history is about the human (historians) actions and how they developed
history.

How do historians reconstruct the past?

 Historians research, analyze, and interpret various types of evidence to come to

conclusions about the past.
 Archaeologists analyze artifacts to draw conclusions about peoples’ beliefs, values, and
daily life.
 Historians and Archaeologists study artifacts to learn about prehistoric life.
 Prehistory = period of time before writing systems were developed; history was recorded
using poems, songs, stories and were passed along orally by people
 Artifact = objects made by people, such as tools, weapons, clothing, etc.

Distinction of primary and secondary sources

The concept of ‘primary’ and ‘secondary’ sources is key to studying and writing history. A
‘source’ is anything that provides information, from a manuscript where words tell you things to
clothes that have survived centuries and provide details on fashion and chemistry. As you can
imagine, you can't write history without sources as you would be making this up (which is good
in historical fiction, but rather problematic when it comes to serious history.) Sources are usually
divided into two categories, primary and secondary. These definitions would be different for the
sciences and the below apply to the humanities. It's worth learning them, they are vital if you're
taking exams.

Primary Sources

A ‘Primary Source’ is a document that was written or an object which was created, in the time
period in which you are working. A ‘first hand’ item. A diary can be a primary source if the author
experienced the events they recall, while a charter can be a primary source of the act it was
created for. Photographs, while beset with problems, can be primary sources. The key thing is
they offer a direct insight into what happened because they were created at the time and are
fresh and closely related.

Type of Primary Sources

1. Diaries and journals
 Example: Anne Frank was a teenager during World War II. She kept a diary or
journal the years before she died in a concentration camp. Her diary was later
published as the “Diary of Anne Frank”. This is a primary source.
 Example: Sarah Morgan was young woman during the Civil War. She wrote in
her diary or journal what happened to her and her family during the war. This is
a primary document because it was first hand. She wrote it at the time it
happened.
 Sarah Morgan Dawson: A Confederate Girl's Diary
2. Autobiographies
 An autobiography is when you write a story or book about yourself.
Example: Nelson Mandela wrote his autobiography about events in his life called
“Long Walk to Freedom
3. Speeches are considered Primary Sources.
 Examples of Speeches:
 Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address”
 Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream”
 All of the President’s Inauguration Speeches
4. Historical documents such as the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution are
primary documents. They were drafted and signed.
 Other Primary Sources would be
 Birth Certificates
 Government records
 Deeds
 Court documents
 Military records
 Tax records
 Census records
 Art
5. Published first-hand accounts, or stories are considered primary resources.
 Example: 2008 Presidential candidate Senator John McCain talked about his
“own” experiences as a Vietnam prisoner of war. It is a primary source because
he was there, experienced the events and shared it firsthand.
6. Sound Recordings and interviews are considered primary resources.
 Example 1: During the Great Depression and World War II, television had not
been invented yet. The people would often sit around the radio to listen to
President Roosevelt’s war messages. Those radio addresses are considered
“primary sources.”
7. Photographs and videos are primary sources.
 Example 1: Photographers during World War II took photographs of battles
and/or events during the war. Those photographs are primary sources. Those
were taken during actual events.
8. Letters are considered primary documents

Why Use Primary Sources?

1. Advantages
Primary sources provide a window into the past—unfiltered access to the record
of artistic, social, scientific and political thought and achievement during the
specific period under study, produced by people who lived during that period
these unique, often profoundly personal, documents and objects can give a very
real sense of what it was like to be alive during a long-past era.
2. Disadvantages
 Questions of creator bias, purpose, and point of view may challenge
students’ assumptions.
 Primary sources are often incomplete and have little context. Students
must use prior knowledge and work with multiple primary sources to find
patterns
 In analyzing primary sources, students move from concrete observations
and facts to questioning and making inferences about the materials

Secondary Sources
A ‘ Secondary Source’ can be defined in two ways: it is anything about a historical event
which was created using primary sources, and/or which was one or more stages removed from
the time period and the event. A ‘second hand’ item. For instance, school textbooks tell you
about a time period, but they are all secondary sources as they were written later, usually by
people who weren’t there, and discuss the primary sources they used when being created.
Secondary sources frequently quote or reproduce primary sources, such as a book using a
photograph. The key point is that the people who made these sources are relying on other
testimony rather than their own.

Secondary sources can include history books, articles, websites like this one (other
websites might be a primary source to ‘contemporary history’.) Not everything ‘old’ is a primary
historical source: plenty of medieval or ancient works are secondary sources based on now lost
primary sources, despite being of great age.

• A secondary source is something written about a primary source.

• Secondary sources are written "after the fact" - that is, at a later date.
• Usually the author of a secondary source will have studied the primary sources of an
historical period or event and will then interpret the "evidence" found in these sources.
• You can think of secondary sources as second-hand information.

Type of Secondary Sources:

1. Biography
 Example: A biography is when you write about another person’s life. Alice
Fleming wrote a biography on the life of Martin Luther King Jr. This is a
secondary document. It was written about him after he died.
2. Secondary source materials can be articles in newspapers, magazines, books or articles
found that evaluate or criticize someone else's original research.
3. Almanacs, encyclopedias, history books (textbooks), etc. are all secondary sources
because they were written “after” these events occurred.

Why Use Secondary Sources?

1. Advantages
a. Secondary sources can provide analysis, synthesis, interpretation, or
evaluation of the original information.
b. Secondary sources are best for uncovering background or historical
information about a topic and broadening your understanding of a topic by
exposing you to others’ perspectives, interpretations, and conclusions
c. Allows the reader to get expert views of events and often bring together
multiple primary sources relevant to the subject matter
2. Disadvantages
a. Their reliability and validity are open to question, and often they do not
provide exact information
b. They do not represent firsthand knowledge of a subject or event
c. There are countless books, journals, magazine articles and web pages that
attempt to interpret the past and finding good secondary sources can be an
issue.

EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL CRITICISM

As the historian draws his conclusions and generalizations on the basis of these
documents and facts it is essential to check up the authenticity of the documents and facts. It is
the duty of the historian to doubt every statement until it has been critically tested. This criticism
can be of two types, i.e. External and Internal.

1. External Criticism. The ‘External Criticism’ is of a less intellectual type of criticism of the
documents. It includes examinations of document like manuscripts, books, pamphlets,
maps, inscriptions and monuments. The problem of authenticity of document arises
more in case of manuscripts than the printed documents because the printed document
have already been authenticated by the editor.

Historian has to resort to a number of tests to determine the authenticity of a

particular document in his proposed area of research such as— ‘Authorship’ the first
question while examining the authenticity of a document is its author. Even the
anonymous writings can provide us useful and important knowledge. But the discovery
of an author’s or writer’s name adds the authenticity of the information because of the
character, connections and trust worthiness of author determines the authenticity.

Secondly, “Date of Document”, i.e. the time, place of publication of the document
must be inquired to determine the authenticity of the document. In the modern
publications year and place of publication is indicated on the book or document on the
title page or back side (over leaf). However, in old manuscript where the data and place
are absent it can be found out from the language or from the date of birth and death of
author.

Thirdly, the historian confronts with the textual errors which may be either
unintentional or deliberately committed. Unintentional error can take place in the copies
of the documents (originals are not available). These mistakes may be caused by the
scribe, typist or printer.

An intention error may creep in when effort is made to modify, supplement or

continue the original. This problem can be overcome through textual criticism. Under this
technique effort is made to collect as many copies of dubious text as possible and they
are compared.

If the ideas and style do not match or resemble the idea and style of the author it
can be safely assumed that they were not parts of the original manuscript and were
forged by the later ones. Further’ more, the textual accuracy can be solved with the help
of “sciences auxiliary” to history such as “Paleographists” have authenticated numerous
documents of the medieval period by their handwritings and have published easily
legible printed versions.
The “archaeologists” provides rich information to the historians, the
“numismatists” by dating the coins, metals and deciphering their inscriptions render
valuable assistance. Fourthly, after the confirmation of authenticity of the sources
historians confronted with the different terms used in document.

The meaning of words often changes from generation to generation. Therefore,

historian must find out the meaning and sense in which it has been used in document.
The misinterpretation of terms may lead to misunderstanding of the historical
development.

In this way, even after the historian established the authenticity of the documents
and discovered the meaning of the text his duty is not over. He is confronted with the
another important problem the credibility of document.

2. Internal Criticism:

While collecting the material, it must be remembered that a document contains the idea
of the man who wrote. A historian must analyse the contents of the documents with a view to
determine the real meaning. He must try to avoid the laps such as avoid the reading into
meaning which author did not mean to convey, etc., and make a sincere effort to find out the
facts even if they are contrary to his set notions and theories.

He must be able to understand the literal and real meaning of the document which is
termed as ‘Positive Criticism’. It reveals us with the author’s conceptions and general notion
which he represents. On other hand, historian sometimes come across documents which
contradict each other. Hence the need of eliminating statements and facts which are obviously
wrong and false arises.

Therefore, historians have come to hold the view that all that cannot be proved must be
temporarily regarded as doubtful because of the incompetency and unreliability of the author
which prevents him from telling the truth even when he knows. To assess the correctness of the
fact, historian must ascertain whether author had opportunity to know the facts as an eye-
witness or not.

Repositories of Primary sources:

1. National Archives of the Philippines. The task of guaranteeing that documents and
records are preserved and accessible to the public lies with the National Archives of the
Philippines. Its main responsibility is to preserve the primary sources of information on
Philippine history, the basic components of cultural heritage and collective memory.
These documentary sources are the embodiment of community identities as well as
testaments to shared national experiences. The National Archives of the Philippines is
the home of about 60 million documents from the centuries of Spanish rule in the
Philippines, the American and Japanese occupations, as well as the years of the
Republic. It is also the final repository for the voluminous notarized documents of the
country.
2. The National Library of the Philippines. The official national library of the Philippines.
The complex is located in Ermita on a portion of Rizal Park facing T.M. Kalaw Avenue,
neighboring culturally significant buildings such as the Museum of Philippine Political
History and the National Historical Commission. Like its neighbors, it is under the
jurisdiction of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts(NCCA)
3. National Historical Commission of the Philippines. Is a government agency of the
Philippines. Its mission is to promote the Philippine History and cultural heritage through
research, dissemination, conservation, sites management and heraldry works.
4. The Gilder Lehrman Collection is a unique archive of primary sources in American
history. Owned by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and located at the
New-York Historical Society, the Collection includes more than 60,000 letters, diaries,
maps, pamphlets, printed books, newspapers, photographs, and ephemera that
document the political, social, and economic history of the United States. An extensive
resource for educators, students, and scholars, the Collection ranges from 1493 through
the twentieth century and is widely considered one of the nation’s great archives in the
Revolutionary, early national, antebellum, and Civil War periods. Requires subscription,
which is free to K-12.
5. The Library of Congress offers classroom materials and professional development to
help teachers effectively use primary sources from the Library's vast digital collections in
their teaching.
6. The Avalon Project offers digital primary source documents relevant to the fields of
Law, History, Economics, Politics, Diplomacy and Government. They do not intend to
mount only static text but rather to add value to the text by linking to supporting
documents expressly referred to in the body of the text.
 

Chapter Assessment

Name: ________________________________________ Student No. ____________

Instructor: ______________________________________ Date: ______________

Activity 1. Direction: Write and place your answer and opinion using MS Word document. Your
answer should demonstrate your ability to analyze the facts and arrive at a sound or logical
conclusion. Thus, always briefly but fully explain your answers although the question does not
expressly ask for an explanation. You do not need to re-write or repeat the question in your
paper.

1. In your own words, explain what Smith, V.S meant with this:
“The value and interest of history depend largely on the degree in which the
present is illuminated by the past.” (10 points)

2. Historians make use of all forms of evidence to examine, revisit, and reinterpret history.
They make sure to maximize the resources that they have or can find in the process.
Can you give examples on the type of resources they utilize, or the ways in which they
accomplish this? (10 points)

3. Can you differentiate primary sources from secondary sources? Please include briefly
the advantages and disadvantages for each. (10 points)

4. Give at least (3) three repositories of primary sources and provide a concise description
of each. (10 points)

5. When they are drawing their own conclusions, it is an obligation for historians to check
or prove how authentic the facts or documents are in their possession. Explain the
challenging process that they go through to criticize (internal AND external) the
information they have. (10 points)

Activity 2: Create a Comparative Analysis paper on Primary vs. Secondary Sources

Instruction: Write a 500 words Comparative essay regarding PRIMARY SOURCES vs.
SECONDARY SOURCES; your essay should have a clear and largely familiar structure, with an
introduction, body (similarities and differences between the subjects) and conclusion.

Guidelines on writing a comparative essay:

Use similarities (comparison) or differences (contrast) to make a point.
Select meaningful basis of comparison or contrast.
Provide sufficient evidence to support comparison or contrast analysis.
Distinguish between point-by-point and block organization.
Deadline: End of week 3
Note: Use this format when sending your output (e.g. Module1 Surname section)
Font style: Times New Roman
Font size: 12
Spacing: Double
Alignment: Justification

Activity 3: Critical Analysis paper

Instruction: Write a 500 words Critical analysis paper regarding “The Conjugal Dictatorship of
Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos by Primitivo Mijares. Chapter XVI - Plans in Perpetuity”

Link: http://rizalls.lib.admu.edu.ph:8080/ebooks2/Primitivo%20Mijares.pdf

Guidelines on Writing Analysis Paper:

Introduction. The introduction serves as the opening to your paper and it should grab their
attention and give them an idea about what they will find in your work. However, the introduction
does not need to be detailed. In a couple of sentences you should explain the topic of your
work, which methods you used for examining the topic, and the conclusion. This may be the
shortest part of your analysis paper, but it may also be the most essential one.

Body: The body of an analysis paper is the largest part of your essay. This part should consist
of you presenting points and evidence to support them. Here you can use different methods for
making your point visible, but it’s important to be consistent. The secret for writing a great body
of an analysis paper is to use the outline to list the most vital points of the narrative, so that you
can always refer to your notes and know which part of the body paragraphs is coming next;

Conclusion. The conclusion of your paper doesn’t need to be long. Plus, you shouldn’t present
any new ideas or points in the conclusion. Use the conclusion to merely sum up everything that
has been said in the previous parts of the analysis paper and once again state how you
managed to get your point across.

Deadline: End of week 3

Note: Use this format when sending your output (e.g. Module1 Surname section)
Font style: Arial
Font size: 11
Spacing: Double
Alignment: Justification