Presentism

In the WSC context, presentism is when historians introduce present-day ideas and perspectives, such as human rights and gender equality to interpretations of historical events before the 20th century. This is bad for historians, as it is considered as a form of cultural bias, and it may lead to a distorted understanding of the past, which may lead to judging historical figures and events by nowadays values - values that were not relevant at the time.

Examples on presentism

First some important names. Lynn Hunt argues against presentism, as it threatens to put historians out of business, because historians are not interested in topics prior to the 20th century, as the values in these topics are different from today’s values. James H. Sweet argues that a barrier should be created between politics and history, and so he gives some examples. He talks about how Nikole Hannah-Jones and the New York Times created a book called “The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story” that characterized George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison as evil slave owners – though slave owning was alright at the time. He also traveled to Elmina Castle, an archeological site in Ghana where colonialists deported slaves from Africa to the Carribeans. Tours approach this quite controversial place with a “woke” approach, telling lies to African Americans, the majority of tourists, about that Ghanians were deported to South America rather than North America, though it’s not true. Many US supreme court decisions are affected by presentism, by relying on cherry picked history that tend to change people’s views of history at the time, and so overturning cases as Roe v. Wade – an abortion case.

US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt Hiding His Disability

Literally the best article in the curriculum - short and captures the point well. FDR was the US president who led the US out of the great depression and WW2, making him a big chad (although being socialist and not a proud capitalist). During his time in office he was unable to walk because the disease polio partially killed his legs (Israeli kids in the 80’s can relate), and so now he couldn’t walk well. His legs were not behaving, but still bro knew it would damage him in his campaign. Therefore he decided to hide it from the public. He used a private wheelchair in the white house, and asked journalists to keep the fact he’s disabled a secret. Journalists kept the secret. In his campaign trial he pretended to walk by using a variety of devices and illusions. His physique was the boxer Jack Dmspey, who trained him to get skill level 100 in the upper part of his body. In 2013 the Indiana college professor Ray Begovich published rare footage of FDR being on a wheelchair to the National Archive, and in 2001 a statue of Roosevelt on a wheelchair was unveiled in Washington D C, finally showing the public the man’s disability. Some say the disability was a source of shame for him, and some said he was proud of it but he couldn’t risk his love from the public. It goes further back in time though. In 1974 the FDR Memorial Commision asked from the architect Lawrence Halprin to have a statue of Roosevelt, and Halprin wanted to address his disability, but sadly there were only 4 existing images of him on a wheelchair. He got some support from the National Organization on Disability and so in 2001 the statue I talked about was unveiled.

Biography

A form of literature that is historically accurate, and tells the life of an individual. It needs to be made by someone who is not that individual, whether he is alive or dead at the time. Just like wiki pages on personalities.AutobiographyA form of literature that is more accurate, as it tells the life of an individual by that individual. Some people say it’s less accurate as the guy can make up facts about himself, like we all do in our instagram bios (@nadav_gil_4v2c.plus.2r). Here you also see the guy’s mindset so it’s a little better than biography for producers.

Memoir

Often confused with autobiography and biography, and it can be written by everyone and that person which it talks about, however unlike the last two that talk about the guy’s whole life, a memoir talks about a specific event this guy was a part of. Like a battle, explained with more detail than a biography. Just like a wiki (Britannica) page about a battle.

Journal

An account of day to day events, ideas and reflections that is kept for private use by that historical person, but the form of writing is less personal than a diary. It’s less “dear diary, today the Germans captured Tasha and Natasha. I'm so sad, please get me out of this war! We are still in Georgenikov’s basement, and I’m writing this for you to observe”, and more “Today the Nazi Germans captured my mother and sister. I was, and am afraid of what’s soon to come, I wish the war has ended. I’m still in hiding, and I’ll seek help”. Producers can extract from here the mindset of the writer, and that’s good without too many filler lines too.

Diary

An account of day to day experience that is written with much more personal details. Anne Frank has the most famous diary for very obvious reasons. It’s harder to work with than a journal, as there are a lot of filler lines, but also some important details too.

Letters

A message someone sends to somebody else by writing it on paper and delivering it to him with pigeons or something. Here producers can just understand the info in the context and see what was the bottom line he wanted to deliver.

Newspaper Accounts

Info of a historical figure can be found in newspaper accounts: newspapers have archives of newspaper editions from all time, and so people can find there info about the guy they search info about from stories he was a part of that were covered by newspapers. Nowadays it transitioned to an online format of newspapers, where you can get into these archives pirately from the internet (Margaret Thatcher article).

Contemporary Footage

Like literally camera footage of an event. It is often used in documentaries, and this footage can come from National Archives, family archives and such. Just like in the first Lebanon war Israeli soldiers video taped the war and bloodshed, and then 20 years later it was made into a documentary piece. You can extract info by using your eyes and connecting already known stories to the new details seen in the image or video.

Government Records

Recorded info in any form, created or received by the government or its businesses, and kept as evidence in their archives. It’s just like contemporary footage and any other form of evidence I talked about, but held by the government in their archives. That’s why as a producer it’s gonna be hard to get access to the records. The Lebanon footage by Israeli soldiers is considered as gov records, because they are a part of the IDF, Israel’s great and strong self-defense army!

Interviews

These are videos or tapes of that historical figure doing a q&a session with a journalist, and from that tape you can find info like what he thinks about stuff and like details he told that journalist in the q&a. Before tapes were invented journalists just wrote every word the guy said and published it in the newspaper, so it can be a newspaper account too? Yes.

Transcripts

WSC refers here to transcripts of legal proceedings, and not transcripts which are official records of a student’s grades (rookie mistake). So transcripts of legal proceedings are records of whatever was said in a legal court. Like in Better Call Saul, in every court case there is a guy whose work is to write everything that is said in the court by all people, and these are stored in the court transcripts archive. This is to find 100% right evidence for past cases when they’re needed for future cases that are somehow connected/ extracting info from the court meeting. WSC probably refers to it, but also in situations outside court, meaning that these are typed or written records of audio or video recordings, such as speeches, meetings and interviews.