Lesson 2: Study of Philippine History Through the Use of Primary and Secondary Sources

Primary Source

raw materials of history – the original documents and objects which were created at the time under study".

Physical Repository

A "place, a building, or a receptacle where things are or can be stored"

Digital Repository

An emerging trend for making primary sources accessible to the public using high-resolution scanners and secured databases

. Textual Heritage

Refers to "both tangible texts that have been transmitted from the past and intangible practices that were performed with and around them"

Digitization of Primary Sources

Aims to "digitally preserve original manuscripts for posterity", promote access and usage for scholars without tampering with originals, and create digital libraries

Works in the Public Domain

Materials that are not protected by copyright law, maybe used freely and needs not to seek permission for its use or compensate the copyright owner"

Digital Archiving

The most important goal is "intellectual control – they have the vital knowledge about the primary sources that they hold and not only the known information about the collection"

Internal Criticism

Checking the credibility of the document whether the contents given in it are believable or not after it has been subjected to external scrutiny

External Criticism

Applied through textual criticism, verification, and identification of dates

Textual Criticism

Checking the "originality of the text... with the authors, language, ideas, versions, and styles of writing, the passages, additions, and omissions"

Paleography

The "study of handwriting, describes the evolution of letters"

Sigiliography

Study of seals to authenticate and describe them

Content Analysis

A method of analyzing primary sources that focuses on the "author’s main argument or thesis, author’s point of view, author’s biases, and author’s claims based on presented evidence

Context Analysis

A method of analyzing primary sources that involves considering the "historical context of the source (time, place, and situation); author’s background; intent (to the extent discernable); authority on the subject; relevance and meaning in the present time

Secondary Sources

Interprets, discusses, and analyzes’ the events related in primary sources; usually in text formats and written by someone who is distant geographically and in terms of time to the event/s being interpreted, discussed, or analyzed

Tertiary Sources

Categorized as such when based on other secondary sources and are further removed or often summaries of information found in primary and secondary sources

National Archives of the Philippines (NAP)

Primary Function: Official repository of Philippine archival records

National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) National Memory Project

Launched in 2020, its purpose is democratizing access to Philippine historical materials through high-resolution digitized rare collections and public domain materials

Archivo General de Indias (General Archives of the Indies)

Content: Spanish Empire archives (16th-19th century), significant for documenting the Spanish colonial period in Americas and Asia