This first log is from out textbook, John Douglas Belshaw, Canadian History: Pre-Confederation, this was the first log I had ever written so be warned!
Shannon Cooper
Reading Log
The purpose of this reading is to educate the reader on how history is written and why history is forever changing or being “freshened up”. History is based on two golden rules; is the source trustworthy and can the history be verified. As we discover new evidence, be it through medical discoveries, environmental discoveries or other fields of discovery, our perception of history changes. These discoveries can help to support or disprove written or oral history, something that is quite important as for a long time people refused to accept oral history as history at all. Another way historians are able to verify and confirm if the history is reliable is through primary and secondary sources. One can research past archived documents for primary sources or research other historian’s works for secondary sources. Either way one must be cautious when researching or studying history because ideologies can affect the way the history has been presented. As a result one must carefully examine who, what, when, where, why and how of the text. [1]
I find it extremely interesting to learn that history is constantly changing as new discoveries are being made. I never really thought about history being anything other than a document set in stone when in reality, it is a forever changing landscape as new voices are heard and new things are being discovered or disproved. I am very interested in obtaining a text from 20 years ago so that I may compare it to text from today. What things have changed? What things have stayed the same? I would also like to know what other countries claim our history to be and is it based on experiences they have had or research they have done? I would also love the ability to go to another country and read their history books and compare it to ours. How much information is the same? Now that we are all connected through different media, Facebook, Blogs, Twitter, how has it impacted the ability to create history and how can one verify truth in a virtual world that is so easy to lie in?
[1] John Douglas Belshaw, Canadian History: Pre-Confederation, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, February 2015, 2-26