by VorJack
In his work Remembering Ahanagran, historian Richard White examines his mother’s stories of Ireland. It produced a favorite quote of mine:
I once thought of my mother’s stories as history. I thought memory was history. Then, I became a historian, and after many years I have come to realize that only careless historians confuse history and memory. History is the enemy of memory. The two stalk each other across the fields of the past, claiming the same terrain. History forges weapons from what memory has forgotten or suppressed.
Kinda like religion and science, huh?
So, how does he feel about interviewing people who were actually present at important events or recording the memories of old people? What is the worth of personal memoirs, which are simply written memories? How does he feel about the whole field of Social History? Of course memory and the accounts of witnesses are faulty and biased, but the academic field of history isn’t perfect, either. It seems to me that accurate history of any variety should examine as wide a range of sources as possible.
He probably feels the same way as most competent historians: personal memoirs are useful, but must be tempered by other sources. The whole field of social history does not rely on personal memoirs of individuals, but rather examines them in the context of other sources. In many cases, social histories are not based on personal recollections, but on examining previously known documents through the lens of social history (for example, finding personal memoirs of ancient Rome is tough, but looking at the existing source base with an eye towards social history reveals much that has not been discussed).
If you look at true historical research (as opposed to the journalistic history that has become popular in the last 20 years), you will see that these historians do examine a wide range of sources, from personal anecdotes to local newspapers to government documents. In fact, following the footnotes of an interesting historical article can be quite enjoyable.
This historian gives this quote two big thumbs up.