Evolution of Historical Sources

Extract

[...] Comment choose its historical sources in the face of the multiplication of means of communication? In view of the subject, the challenge of this dissertation is to highlight the fact that the origin of sources has undergone a profound change over the last few centuries: reflecting the change that society has undergone following the French and Industrial Revolutions. From then on, historians also had to work differently in view of these new multiplications of sources. Or, if this multiplication of sources can allow the historian to refine his work, to know phenomena in a more rapid and precise manner (the case of the Shoah for example), there is also a risk: that of Fake News. [...]

[...] Traditional sources have long been considered as legitimate sources Sources from traditional antiquity - Issued from Antiquity, legal texts and means of communication of politicians have been the only means for historians to have sources as can be seen through the works of Thucydide on the Trojan War commented by the historian Jacqueline de Romilly. - From then on, it is classical and state-controlled sources that are available to historians. The sources of historians of the Revolution rely on a limited number of sources - These traditional sources have notably allowed historians to comment and understand the French Revolution and more generally the three French Revolutions. [...]

[...] Therefore, one observes a limitation of sources in the 19th century - Bernstein and Milza report this by showing that historians of the time did not have an ease of taking awareness of the stakes at the European scale. We notice this for example with the Revolution of 1848. - Therefore, we note the limitations of traditional sources to understand the social relationships of the 19th century. We have to wait for the 20th century to understand the previous century, particularly concerning nationalism, for example with the works of the English historian Eric Hobsbawm. [...]

[...] - The diversification intensifies with the arrival of ICTs: we also use the Internet: see Valérie Schafer. However, there are today risks for the historian, notably on the subject of Fake News - The multiplication of sources is a risk for the historian who must do a preliminary work between the necessary and what is not necessary (the true and the false) : Rygiel Philippe, « The sources of the historian in the age of the Internet this is an important issue of the dissertation : to demonstrate the risks of the multiplication of sources and what is the attitude of historians on this subject. [...]

[...] However, the generalization of ICTs, the historian must pay more attention to it and be vigilant. Edward Herman and Pascal Froissar are historians who speak of this risk and demonstrate the importance of vigilance in the sources of the historian. In conclusion, an opening up to historians who work on a subject that requires a type of source that did not exist before, for example, historians who are interested in the political behavior of Donald Trump and rely on his Tweets, something unimaginable 10 years ago, for example. [...]