1. What Historians Do
An Intro to the Craft of History

2. In this Lecture
• What is History?
• What should be studied?
• Why those topics?
• Why study History at all?
• Who should write history?
• A sense of understanding of the craft and
what historiography is!

3. Aims and Purposes of History
• Philosophical
– Illuminate Past
– Broaden Possibilities of
Future
– Keep a Sense of Who We
Are

4. Aims and Purposes
• Practical Sense
– Teach
– Law School
– Gov Work
– Business
– Museum/Parks Public
History

5. Validity of History
• Students
• Ford
• Voltaire
• Paul Conkin – “true
story about the human
past”
• What is Good History?

6. History, People’s Identity, and the
Sources!
• Control often becomes
a struggle
– Many topics including
Civil War, Evolution to
name but two

7. Denial of Holocaust
• Institute of Historical
Review
– Examination of “Facts”
– Presented in Legitimate
Manner
– Manipulates Free
Speech in Incite Hatred
– Once the Lie is Printed, it
Becomes a “Legitimate”
Topic of Debate

8. Modern Approaches
• Previous Histories- Dead
White Males
• New Writers Multicultural
Approaches
• Must History Be
Continually Revised?
• Is Teaching History
Essential for Maintenance
of Democracy?

9. Ancient World
• The Written Word
• Pre History
– Native Americans Give
Us a Clue
• Assyrians
– Real Mixed With
Unreal…

10. History is the Intersection of People
Place and Time