"Primary sources did not come into existence to satisfy the curiosity of historians. They derive 'natural', 'organically', as it were, or, more straightforwardly, 'in the ordinary course of events', from human beings and groups of human beings, in the past society being studied, living their lives, worshipping, decision-making, adjudicating, fornicating, going about their business or fulfilling their vocations, recording, noting, communicating, as they go, very occasionally, perhaps, with an eye on the future, but generally in accordance with immediate needs and purposes. The technical skills of the historian lie in sorting these matters out, in understanding how and why a particular source came into existence, how relevant it is to the topic under investigation and, obviously, the particular codes or language in accordance with which the particular source comes into being as a concrete artefact."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
People from EdinburghAcademics from ScotlandHistorians from ScotlandUniversity of Oxford alumniNon-fiction authors from Scotland
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
"Two Approaches to Historical Study: the Metaphysical (including 'Postmodernism') and the Historical" (1995), cited in Tosh, ed. Historians on History, p. 302
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Arthur_Marwick
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Arthur Marwick
Arthur John Brereton Marwick FRHistS (29 February 1936 – 27 September 2006) was a British social historian, who served for many years as Professor of History at the Open University. His research interests lay primarily in the history of Britain in the twentieth century, and the relationship between war and social change. He is probably best known, however, for his more theoretical book The Nature of History (1970; revised editions 1981 and 1989), and its greatly reworked and expanded version The
7 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Arthur Marwick →
Related Quotes
"History is the study of the human past, through the systematic analysis of the primary sources, and the bodies of kno…"
"The insistence that language determines ideas, and is itself a system arising from the existing power structure in so…"
"If the historian finds himself resorting to metaphor or cliché, that may well be a warning that things have not been …"
"Society has a right to demand from historians accounts which can, if so desired, be used in trying to understand the …"
"For most countries involved in modern war the experience has resulted in, among other things, the testing of the crud…"
"Historians do not, as too many of my colleagues keep mindlessly repeating, “reconstruct” the past. What historians do…"
"In general appearance the is an extremely large and powerful fellow, with a beautiful head and speaking countenance, …"
"Very few of the old s interfere with the duties of their assistants, but there be men who seem to think you have mere…"
"Three days at , and up anchor again; our next place of call being . Every one has heard of the , who tried to beat th…"
"When I was a little boy at school, floundering through Herodotus, and getting double doses of fum-fum daily for my An…"