What are the historical sources?

 

Historical Sources By Nature

Primary Source

Primary sources are testimonies from someone who has seen events with the senses they have, both with their eyes and with other senses. This information is obtained from people who are directly involved in historical events. This information can be in the form of written, spoken or audio-visual information.

Primary sources are made during the past time period according to the point of view of the actor as a direct observer of historical events in the past. Therefore, primary sources must be contemporaneous with historical events in the past.

In the context of historical research, primary sources are sources created during the specific time period being studied. Primary sources allow the researcher to get as close as possible to events that actually occurred during a particular historical event or period of time.

 

Secondary Source

Secondary sources are testimonies from someone who is not directly involved in historical events in the past. This secondary source can be in the form of written, oral, and audio-visual.

Secondary sources do not provide evidence directly by the perpetrators, but these secondary sources provide information derived from primary data that has been reconstructed or interpreted. Usually the author conducts research directly on the historical events discussed.

Historians will spend as much time with secondary sources as they do with primary sources. The aim is to understand how other scholars interpret events that are unclear and may disagree with their analysis.

 

Tertiary Source

Tertiary sources are a collection of historical sources derived from secondary historical sources that have been reinterpreted. This historical source is a collection of several research results analyzed by historians.

Historical sources belonging to this tertiary historical source are history books based on reports from research by historians. Usually the author does not conduct research directly on the topics discussed.

 

Historical Sources Based on Forms

Written Source

Written sources are historical sources obtained from the relics of past events in the form of writings and notes. For example inscriptions, documents, charters, manuscripts, newspapers, and reports.

 

Oral Source

Oral sources are direct statements from people who experienced these historical events. Apart from being obtained from people who directly experienced the event, oral sources can also be obtained from relatives or other people who know the event in detail. In other words, this historical source can be used for primary sources and secondary sources. For example interview.

Basically, the information obtained is not directly used as a reference because not all historical actors remember historical events in detail. So that the use of oral sources must be accompanied by written sources as a support.

 

Object Source

Material sources are sources that come from historical relics in the form of cultural objects. Examples include buildings, weapons, stone tools, statues, jewelery and temples.

The Importance Of History To Study

 

Every nation on this earth has its own history, although not all nations have written historical records. By studying history is the same as knowing yourself. Conversely, forgetting history is the same as people suffering from memory loss. History is a clue about what and who humans really are. History is human experience and human memory being told. Humans play a role in history, namely as history makers. Because it is humans who make experience into history. Humans are historical speakers, namely those who make historical stories (historical sources). Human stories are limited by time, space and place where humans exist. From the point of view of time and space, human creativity in the past was different from human creativity today. An understanding of space and time is needed to be able to develop the ability to think chronologically.

The Importance of Studying History Changes in the past affect people's lives in the present. These changes cover various aspects of human life such as social, political, economic and cultural. The past is a period that is passed by a society, which is always related to the basic concepts of space and time. The study of history allows today's people to know the mistakes of humans in the past or the keys to the success of their predecessors. Knowing the weaknesses and shortcomings of the past is useful, so that today's people do not repeat them in the present and the future. People need to learn history, because history teaches not to repeat the same mistakes. History tells not only the good, but also the bad. So people today can take the good and throw away the bad.