Reply To: [1805] On the Sources for Austerlitz

[OotKust]

Interesting points given by a master of history, copied verbatim from his SEHRI web site. It is from the instructional and educational section for students…

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Sources in History
Jerome C. Mon 28 Mar – 22:34

In history, from an academic and scientific point of view, the sources are divided between:
– handwritten sources
– printed sources.

Inside these, there are sources of first and second hands (see third hand), the seconds taking the first.

The term “primary sources” in history is an Anglo-Saxon concept. In France, we make more the difference between handwritten and printed sources, because we can only hardly base the seriousness of the sources on their dates of creation. Indeed, first-hand sources can be bad, to account for history, while second-hand sources, such as Rousselot boards in military uniformology, are excellent because they are the result of research and reflection.
Then there are the interpretations of the archival documents, which give rise to friendly and enriching conversations.
The sources, handwritten or printed, serve to be interpreted, to be scrutinized by his problematic (an essential object of research work) or his questioning. It is on their study, understanding and decryption that the work of the Historian rests.

We always start by presenting the handwritten sources and then the printed sources. Handwritten sources being written archives and printed sources, contemporary printed materials to the events described therein.
We always present the sources by origin of the funds, starting from the most important deposits, National Archives – Historical Services of Defense, to go to small private collections, through departmental and municipal archives.

In order to support his work, we can cite sources.
If a job is to spread out sources in extenso, it is not a historical work but a feeling of archives and documents. It therefore no longer has the same scientific value and is included in the source heading.
The sources cited are after “opening the quotation marks, having closed them and put them in italics (for handwritten sources)”, then arrives the footnote that specifies the object, the author / producer of the source, the place, the date and the symbol.
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Chairman of S.E.H.R.I.