Module Information

From manuscripts to newspapers, official documents to music, historians over the years have drawn on a vast range of sources, on which to base their interpretations of the past. This module will take you on a journey through history with a focus on the very materials that historians have used to understand it. It will introduce students to the various sources used by our lecturers in their own research and teach them how to interrogate them. Primary sources are the clues that historians use to piece together the past. This module will teach students how to engage critically with them and prepare students for their own future historical detective work.

The module introduces students to a range of primary sources and their use by historians. In each of the nine two-hour workshops students will be introduced to a particular primary source type, its use by historians and how to analyze it. Each workshop will contain a practical element of working with primary materials as well as information about the context in which they have been used by historians. The module reflects the research interests of staff in the department and focuses therefore on the sources used by them. A wide range of materials will be explored in the course, including archival sources, personal documents, material culture and visual and aural sources amongst others. Individual workshops will examine sources such as letters, diaries, newspapers, songs, personal papers, oral history, film and images, such as posters or photography. Aside from the nine primary source-led workshops the course also consists of an introductory lecture, a practical session where group presentations on a source will be prepared and an oral practical session where group presentations will be assessed.