What is History?

U.S. History

History has many different definitions, depending on who you ask!

Simply put, history is the study of the past.

“History is a set of lies agreed upon.” –Napoleon

“History is mostly guessing, the rest is prejudice.”- Will and Ariel Durant

"Only a good-for-nothing is not interested in his past." -Sigmund Freud

We can see how past events have shaped the present.

We can see how we are similar and different from others over time.

History helps us enjoy and understand the world around us.

We can apply lessons and ideas from the past towards the future.

A good historian will collect information from many sources, analyze the information, and draw conclusions about the past based on the information.

Information may come from documents, interviews, or artifacts.

Historians may also make educated guesses where there is missing information.

Anything written or made by somebody who was at the historical event or lived during the time period.

Primary sources can include: journals, letters, speeches, newspaper articles, photos, interviews, video footage, etc.

Primary sources are the best way to get accurate information about the past.

Made by people who were not actually at the event.

Ideas from several primary sources are combined.

This would include history textbooks and biographies.