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CHAPTER II

CLASSIFICATION OF HISTORICAL

MATERIALS

THE person who approaches the history of a given country ordinarily finds that some one not very far back has already attempted the task, and it may be that a long line of historians have preceded the modern exponents of that people. Consequently, the investigator who feels impelled to inquire further is confronted with a double duty. He must take account of what has already been written by the more serious of his predecessors, and must explore the materials out of which the history has been constructed. His task is not concluded by an examination of the documents cited by his forerunners. More is required than mere proof that the quotations are correct. The whole mass of available material must be assembled and the narrative reconstructed by fresh interpretation. Therefore, in order to be sure that all kinds of evidence have been marshalled, and that the testimony has been weighed with due regard to its quality, it is important that the investigator have a well defined idea of the nature and extent of historical materials in general.

The materials for the study of the history of society fall into two general classes:

Classes.

Distinctions.

First, those which man has consciously recorded for the purpose of transmitting information.

Second, relics of man's activity, whether written or otherwise, which have come down to us from time past without the conscious intention of imparting connected information.

There are certain other materials which may combine the qualities of both of these classes and which have been called "memorials." In some cases the difference between memorials and transmitted history is not at once apparent, but the distinction between conscious and unconscious evidence is so fundamental that the degree of relationship must be established before the material can be used. The classification of sources, therefore, is an important part of historical research.

Much of the matter, to be sure, easily falls into place. Memoirs, biographies, and annals obviously were intended to be transmitted to the future. A battle-axe, on the other hand, is an unconscious relic of the warfare of its day. A boundary stone is a mere indicator of lines for practical use, and a gravestone containing simply a name is no more than this, but when the tombstone contains dates the historical record begins. When the epitaph is extended into an account of the deeds and virtues of the deceased, the relic is transformed into a memorial. So when the boundary stone records in cuneiform characters the sale of a field at a time estimated to be about B. C. 1400,1 you have the relic of a business transaction, but one which may throw great light 1 British Museum, No. 90,833.

on the customs of the times or the relations of great persons of the period. A Babylonian brick is in itself an interesting object, for it illustrates the particulars of a certain ancient industry, but when a fragment contains the name of Urengur, king of Ur, about B. C. 2300, the interest intensifies; and when another specimen records not only the name of this king, but also an account of the building of a temple to the goddess Ninâ in the city of Erech, the brick has risen to the rank of an historical document.1 Assur-nasir-pal, king of Assyria, B. C. 885, sheathed his palace with marble sculptured in relief, and upon this he engraved long accounts of his greatness and his conquests with the evident intention of leaving the record to posterity. Not only these architectural memorials and ornaments, but also multitudes of clay tablets containing the history of his predecessors were collected and written at the command of this king. Many of the sculptures and thousands of the tablets have been recovered and now adorn the British Museum, so that the intentions of the royal patron of letters have been carried out in an unexpected manner.

In whatever form prepared, whether it be in Intention. stone, clay, papyrus, or paper, the intention of the producer toward the future is the factor which determines the general classification. As we proceed we shall find that this holds a very important relation to the criticism of the source. The question whether an object is simply a relic of the period or contains consciously transmitted information is fundamental. 1 British Museum, Nos. 90,296, and 90,015.

A law is properly classified as a relic of the period ir which it was enacted, and is evidence of the lega! and moral perceptions of that people, but if one examine a statute of the Tudor period, for example, it will be found to contain at least two distinct parts. A preamble gives the reason for the enactment, while the sections establish the law and the penalties. The preamble is the explanation or justification intended for the public, present and future, and must be judged upon its conscious intentions.1

Newspapers. A newspaper is likewise a complex document in which materials of various classes are included. The news items are intended to be the current history of the day. The editorials refer partly to curre events and partly to political or social conduct The advertisements are evidences of business metho and social institutions intended for present infor mation not future record. They are unconsciou relics of the period. The newspaper as a whole may be regarded as a literary product of its time, but fo historical purposes its contents must be analyzed and each part judged and made use of according to the class in which it belongs.2

Order of Importance.

If a chronological order were to be pursued from primitive times onward a classification of materials would begin with relics, for at first these are the only 、evidences we have. Undoubtedly man made implements long before he began to write down his experiences, consequently we have the common term 1 See page 171.

2 See page 215.

"prehistoric remains," but in the conduct of his[torical research the first instinct leads one to inquire if there be any record of the period. In fact, when the materials are appraised it becomes apparent that the relics alone are insufficient, and history would be impossible without conscious attempts to connect its parts. The order of procedure, therefore, is to find what has been written upon the period or topic and then determine what light can be drawn from the collateral material.

It is almost impossible to describe the various classes of documents and sources without entering upon criticism or interpretation of them; therefore, to avoid repetition the fuller consideration is deferred to later chapters.

It may, however, serve a useful purpose to present a brief tabular view of historical materials in such a way as to show the grand divisions. In the one which follows the consciously transmitted information appears first in its three forms as written, oral, and artistic. This is not the order of historic precedence, for if that were followed the remains of the human body would come first, for undoubtedly many a human creature passed from this earth before he was able to shape even an implement which would give token of his existence. Nor may one assume that the order of importance can be fully displayed in any table, for at a given point the conscious testimony may have the most value, and in another historical problem the relics may outweigh all other evidence. It is, nevertheless, a valuable preparatory` exercise to formulate in the mind the general classi

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