Sumter Newspapers

Sumter Newspapers

Sumter Newspapers

Posted on: January 28, 2012 - 2:26 am
by Admin

Some years ago, I was writing a nonfiction book about America's Continental Divide. My research included trips to western museums and libraries (including private libraries that contained primary sources such as documents, letters, and photographs), as well as interviews with government officials, land managers, recreation managers, ranchers, and others involved with land use and historical issues on western lands. I also used secondary sources such as other writers' books about the region and newspaper accounts of various issues.

What amazed me was how many inaccuracies turned up: The same outlaw was said to have been hanged in three different towns, the same Colorado gold-rush stories were told in Creede as in Leadville, the value of various artifacts varied by a factor of 10. And Lewis and Clark, Cattle Kate, and Jesse James were seemingly in 20 places at once.

How do we know what is true? Teachers deal with these issues all the time when students turn in papers supported by unreliable sources. Catherine Stratton, a history professor at Iona College in New Rochelle, N.Y., has taught classes in the subspecialty of historiography, which attempts to ascertain how we know what we think we know about history. According to Professor Stratton, one of the keys is to do enough research that you find yourself constantly circling around the same sources, hearing the same facts from different angles. Another key issue is to use a good volume of primary sources, which emanate from the period in question, and reliable secondary sources, which interpret the information.