How do we know what we know about the past? EVIDENCE How do we know what we know about the past?

EVIDENCE History is interpretation based on inferences made from primary sources Asking good questions about a source will turn it into evidence Sourcing often begins before a source is read; who created it and when was it created? OPCVL Sources should be analyzed in relation to the context of its historical setting: the conditions and worldviews prevalent at the time in question Inferences made from a source can never stand alone- they must always be corroborated (checked against another source)

SOURCE WORK In this class we will be assessing the “history” of the Unification of Italy and Germany- therefore we are not assessing the primary sources of the past but the secondary interpretation which has given us the “story” of these events Therefore we are going to have to understand that sources written in different time periods in different places with different histories of their own are going to differ in their interpretations and perspectives Do textbooks present different perspectives in a common set of events? Why or why not?