Historian

{{short description|Scholar who deals with the exploration and presentation of history}}
{{Other uses}}
[[Image:Herodotos Met 91.8.jpg|right|thumb|[[Herodotus]] ({{c.|484|425 BC}}) was a Greek historian who lived in the fifth century BC and one of the earliest historians whose work survives.]]

A '''historian''' is a person who studies and writes about the [[past]] and is regarded as an authority on it.<ref name="wordnetprinceton">{{cite web |url=http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=Historian |title= Historian |publisher=Wordnetweb.princeton.edu |access-date=June 27, 2008}}</ref> Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all [[history]] in time. Some historians are recognized by publications or training and experience.<ref name="HermanAM">Herman, A. M. (1998). Occupational outlook handbook: 1998–99 edition. Indianapolis: JIST Works. Page 525.</ref> "Historian" became a professional occupation in the late nineteenth century as research universities were emerging in Germany and elsewhere.

==Objectivity==
===Among historians===
====Ancient historians====
In the 19th century scholars used to study ancient Greek and Roman historians to see how generally reliable they were. In recent decades, however, scholars have focused more on the constructions, genres, and meanings that ancient historians sought to convey to their audiences.<ref name="Marincola">{{cite journal |last1=Marincola |first1=John  |title=Introduction |journal=A Companion to Greek and Roman Historiography |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |date=September 2007 |pages=xvii-xix, xxiii}}</ref> History is always written with contemporary concerns and ancient historians wrote their histories in response to the needs of their times.<ref name="Marincola" /> Out of thousands of Greek and Roman historians, only the tiniest fraction's works survive and it is out of this small pool that ancient historians and ancient historiography are analyzed today.<ref name="Marincola" /> Historians of the ancient world have to deal with diverse types of evidence, which are debated more today than in the 19th century due to innovations in the field.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Finley |first1=M.I. |title=Ancient History: Evidence and Models |date=2008 |publisher=ACLS History |isbn=978-1597405348 |page=7|quote=I believe the nature and uses of the evidence about antiquity are being debated more widely and determinedly today than at any time since...the early nineteenth century. Partly this is a consequence of the exponential increase in the quantity of available archaeological information and in the quantity of publications generally in ancient studies, and partly it reflects new approaches to the study of history, new interests and the formulation of new questions.}}</ref>

Ancient historians were very different from modern historians in terms of goals, documentation, sources, and methods.<ref name="Nicolai">{{cite journal |last1=Nicolai |first1=Roberto |title=The Place of History in the Ancient World |journal=A Companion to Greek and Roman Historiography |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |date=September 2007 |pages=3–5, 7|doi=10.1002/9781405185110.ch1|isbn=978-1-4051-0216-2 }}</ref> For instance, chronological systems were not widely used, their sources were often absorbed (traceability of such sources usually disappeared), and the goal of an ancient work was often to create political or military paradigms. It was only after the emergence of Christianity that philosophies of history grew in prominence due to the destiny of man from the Christian account.<ref name="Nicolai" /> Epics such as [[Homer]]'s works were used by historians and considered history even by [[Thucydides]].<ref name="Nicolai" />

====Modern historians====
In the 19th-century historical studies became professionalized at universities and research centers along with a belief that history was a type of science.<ref name="iggers">Georg G. Iggers, ''Historiography in the Twentieth Century: From Scientific Objectivity to the Postmodern Challenge'', 1-4. {{ISBN|978-0819567666}}</ref> However, in the 20th century historians incorporated social science dimensions like politics, economy, and culture in their historiography, including postmodernism.<ref name="iggers" /> Since the 1980s there has been a special interest in the memories and commemoration of past events.<ref>David Glassberg, "Public history and the study of memory." ''The Public Historian'' 18.2 (1996): 7–23 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3377910 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200213101636/https://www.jstor.org/stable/3377910 |date=2020-02-13 }}.</ref>

History by its nature is prone to continuous debate, and historians tend to be divided.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gilderhus |first1=Mark |title=History and Historians: A Historiographical Introduction |date=2009 |publisher=Pearson |isbn=9780205687534 |page=81 |quote=Even so, what critics might regard as disorder and disarray, historians would view as a sign of intellectual vitality. The body of literature on almost any historical subject takes the form of an ongoing debate.... After all, historians traditionally have investigated all sorts of human matters charged by passion and emotion. By the very nature of the subject, history tends to divide scholars and set them at odds.}}</ref> There is no past that is commonly agreed upon, since there are competing histories (e.g., of elites, non-elites, men, women, races, etc.).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gilderhus |first1=Mark |title=History and Historians: A Historiographical Introduction |date=2009 |publisher=Pearson |isbn=9780205687534 |page=107 |quote=We no longer possess a past commonly agreed upon.  Indeed, we have a multiplicity of versions competing for attention and emphasizing alternatively elites and nonelites, men and women, whites and persons of color, and no good way of reconciling all the differences.}}</ref> It is widely accepted that "strict objectivity is epistemologically unattainable for historians".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Førland |first1=Tor Egil |title=Values, Objectivity, and Explanation in Historiography |date=2017 |page=87|publisher=Routledge |location=New York |isbn=9781315470979 |quote=It is widely accepted that strict objectivity is epistemologically unattainable for historians, no matter how conscientious they are. I shall not contest this basic philosophical tenet, the implication of which is that all historiography is to some extent political in a wide sense of the term, taken to include (moral) values and worldviews.}}</ref> Historians rarely articulate their conception of objectivity or discuss it in detail.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Novick |first1=Peter |title=That Noble Dream: The "Objectivity Question" and the American Historical Profession |date=1990 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=9780521357456 |page=11}}</ref> And like in other professions, historians rarely analyze themselves or their activity.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Finley |first1=M.I. |title=Ancient History: Evidence and Models |date=2008 |publisher=ACLS History |isbn=978-1597405348 |pages=1–2}}</ref> In practice, "specific canons of historical proof are neither widely observed nor generally agreed upon" among professional historians.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fischer |first1=David Hackett |title=Historians' Fallacies: Toward a Logic of Historical Thought |date=1970 |publisher=Harper Perennial |location=New York |isbn=9780061315459 |page=62}}</ref> Though objectivity is often seen as the goal of those who work on history, in practice there is no convergence on anything in particular.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Novick |first1=Peter |title=That Noble Dream: The "Objectivity Question" and the American Historical Profession |date=1990 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=9780521357456 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/That_Noble_Dream/b42WRrk0-rEC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA628 |page=628|quote=As a broad community of discourse, as a community of scholars united by common aims, common standards, and common purposes, the discipline of history had ceased to exist. Convergence on anything, let alone a subject as highly charged as "the objectivity question," was out of the question. The profession was as described in the last verse of the Book of Judges. "In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did that which was right in his own eyes." How long "those days" will continue is anyone's guess.}}</ref> Historical scholarship is never value free since historian's writings are impacted by the frameworks of their times.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Iggers |first1=Georg G. |title=Historiography in the Twentieth Century |journal=History and Theory |date=October 2005 |volume=44 |issue=3 |page=475 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-2303.2005.00337.x|quote= Historical scholarship is never value-free and historians not  only  hold  political  ideas  that  color  their  writing,  but  also  work  within the framework of institutions that affect the ways in which they write history.}}</ref> Some scholars of history have observed that there are no particular standards for historical fields such as religion, art, science, democracy, and social justice as these are by their nature 'essentially contested' fields, such that they require diverse tools particular to each field beforehand in order to interpret topics from those fields.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=McCullagh |first1=C. Behan |title=Bias in Historical Description, Interpretation, and Explanation |journal=History and Theory |date=2000 |volume=39 |issue=1 |page=47|jstor=2677997 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2677997 |issn=0018-2656 |quote=W. B. Gallie argued that some concepts in history are "essentially contested," namely "religion," "art," "science," "democracy," and "social justice." These are concepts for which "there is no one use of any of them which can be set up as its generally accepted and therefore correct or standard use. When historians write the history of these subjects, they must choose an interpretation of the subject to guide them. For instance, in deciding what Art is, historians can choose between "configurationist theories, theories of aesthetic contemplation and response .. ., theories of art as expression, theories emphasizing traditional artistic aims and standards, and communication theories.}}</ref>

There are three commonly held reasons why avoiding bias is not seen as possible in historical practice: a historian's interest inevitably influences their judgement (what information to use and omit, how to present the information, etc); the sources used by historians for their history all have bias, and historians are products of their culture, concepts, and beliefs.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=McCullagh |first1=C. Behan |title=Bias in Historical Description, Interpretation, and Explanation |journal=History and Theory |date=2000 |volume=39 |issue=1 |page=52 |jstor=2677997 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2677997 |issn=0018-2656 |quote=Clearly bias in history should be avoided. But can it be? Can a historian's social responsibility of providing fair descriptions, interpretations, and explanations of social events be fulfilled? There are three commonly held reasons for denying the possibility of avoiding bias in history. The first is that historians' interests will inevitably influence their judgment in deciding how to conceive of a historical subject, in deciding what information to select for inclusion in their history of it, and in choosing words with which to present it. The second is the belief that, just as a historian's account of the past is inevitably biased, so too are the reports of events by contemporaries upon which historians rely. Some think there is no objective information about historical events which historians can use to describe them. The third is that, even if historians' individual biases can be corrected, and even if facts about the past can be known, historians are still products of their culture, of its language, concepts, beliefs, and attitudes, so that the possibility of an impartial, fair description of past events still remains unattainable.}}</ref> Racial and cultural biases can play major roles in national histories, which often ignore or downplay the roles on other groups.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Forbes |first1=Jack D. |title=The Historian and the Indian: Racial Bias in American History |journal=The Americas |date=April 1963 |volume=19 |issue=4 |pages=349–362 |doi=10.2307/979504 |jstor=979504 |language=en}}</ref> Gender biases as well.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Armitage |first1=Sue |title=Are We There Yet?: Some Thoughts on the Current State of Western Women's History |journal=Montana: The Magazine of Western History |date=2009 |volume=59 |issue=3 |pages=70–96 |jstor=40543655 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40543655 |issn=0026-9891}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Coughlin |first1=Mimi |title=Women and History: Outside the Academy |journal=The History Teacher |date=2007 |volume=40 |issue=4 |pages=471–479 |jstor=30037044 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/30037044 |issn=0018-2745}}</ref> Moral or worldview evaluations by historians are also seen partly inevitable, causing complications for historians and their historical writings.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Vann |first1=Richard T. |title=Historians and Moral Evaluations |journal=History and Theory |date=2004 |volume=43 |issue=4 |page=26 |jstor=3590633 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3590633 |issn=0018-2656 |quote=My analysis has already, I hope, established that there is an irreducible element of moral evaluation in historiography. It can be found in teaching, in all preparations for research, and finally in the finished text. It is complex, because it involves both appraisals of other historians, by standards that are generally agreed upon, yet inevitably also of the historical agents about whom they written, by standards that are eminently contestable.}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gregory |first1=Brad S. |title=The Other Confessional History: On Secular Bias in the Study of Religion |journal=History and Theory |date=2006 |volume=45 |issue=4 |pages=132–149 |issn=0018-2656}}</ref> One way to deal with this is for historians to state their biases explicitly for their readers.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Williams |first1=Robert C. |title=The Historian's Toolbox: A Student's Guide to the Theory and Craft of History |date=2020 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781138632172 |page=29 |edition=Fourth}}</ref> In the modern era, newspapers (which have a bias of their own) impacts historical accounts made by historians.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Muir |first1=Edward |title=Journalists and Historians |url=https://www.historians.org/research-and-publications/perspectives-on-history/april-2023/journalists-and-historians |website=Perspectives on History |publisher=American Historical Association |date=March 14, 2023}}</ref> Wikipedia also contributes to difficulties for historians.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bergen |first1=Sadie |title=Linking In: How Historians Are Fighting Wikipedia's Biases |url=https://www.historians.org/research-and-publications/perspectives-on-history/september-2016/linking-in-how-historians-are-fighting-wikipedias-biases |website=Perspectives on History |publisher=American Historical Association |date= September 1, 2016}}</ref>

===Legal cases===
During the ''[[Irving v Penguin Books Ltd|Irving v Penguin Books and Lipstadt]]'' trial, the court relied on Richard Evan's witness report which mentioned "objective historian" in the same vein as the [[reasonable person]], and reminiscent of the standard traditionally used in English law of "[[the man on the Clapham omnibus]]".{{sfn|Schneider|2001|p=1531}} This was necessary so that there would be a legal benchmark to compare and contrast the scholarship of an objective historian against the illegitimate methods employed by [[David Irving]], as before the ''Irving v Penguin Books and Lipstadt'' trial, there was no legal precedent for what constituted an objective historian.{{sfn|Schneider|2001|p=1531}}

[[Charles Gray (English judge)|Justice Gray]] leant heavily on the research of one of the expert witnesses, [[Richard J. Evans]], who compared [[Historical revisionism (negationism)#Techniques|illegitimate distortion of the historical record]] practiced by [[Holocaust denier]]s with established historical methodologies.{{sfn|Schneider|2001|p=1534}}

By summarizing Gray's judgment, in an article published in the ''[[Yale Law Journal]]'', Wendie E. Schneider distils these seven points for what he meant by an objective historian:{{sfn|Schneider|2001|pp=1534, 1535}}
{{blockquote|
#The historian must treat sources with appropriate reservations;
#The historian must not dismiss counter-evidence without scholarly consideration;
#The historian must be even-handed in treatment of evidence and eschew "cherry-picking";
#The historian must clearly indicate any speculation;
#The historian must not mistranslate documents or mislead by omitting parts of documents;
#The historian must weigh the authenticity of all accounts, not merely those that contradict their favored view; and
#The historian must take the motives of historical actors into consideration.
}}

Schneider uses the concept of the "objective historian" to suggest that this could be an aid in assessing what makes a historian suitable as expert witnesses under the [[Daubert standard]] in the [[United States]]. Schneider proposed this, because, in her opinion, Irving could not have passed the standard Daubert tests unless a court was given "a great deal of assistance from historians".{{sfn|Schneider|2001|pp=1534, 1538}}

Schneider proposes that by testing a historian against the criteria of the "objective historian" then, even if a historian holds specific political views (and she gives an example of a well-qualified historian's testimony that was disregarded by a United States court because he was a member of a feminist group), providing the historian uses the "objective historian" standards, they are a "conscientious historian". It was Irving's failure as an "objective historian" not his right-wing views that caused him to lose his libel case, as a "conscientious historian" would not have "deliberately misrepresented and manipulated historical evidence" to support his political views.{{sfn|Schneider|2001|pp=15333, 1539}}

==History analysis==
{{Main article|Historical method}}

The process of historical analysis involves investigation and analysis of competing ideas, facts, and purported facts to create coherent [[narrative]]s that explain "what happened" and "why or how it happened". Modern historical analysis usually draws upon other social sciences, including [[economics]], [[sociology]], [[politics]], [[psychology]], [[anthropology]], [[philosophy]], and [[linguistics]]. While ancient writers do not normally share modern historical practices, their work remains valuable for its insights within the cultural context of the times. An important part of the contribution of many modern historians is the verification or dismissal of earlier historical accounts through reviewing newly discovered sources and recent scholarship or through parallel disciplines like [[archaeology]].

==Historiography==
{{Main article|Historiography}}

===Ancient===
[[File:Thucydides Manuscript.jpg|thumb|upright|Reproduction of part of a tenth-century copy of [[Thucydides]]'s ''[[History of the Peloponnesian War]]''.]]
Understanding the past appears to be a universal human need, and the telling of history has emerged independently in civilizations around the world. What constitutes history is a philosophical question (see [[philosophy of history]]). The earliest [[Chronology|chronologies]] date back to [[Mesopotamia]] and [[ancient Egypt]], though no historical writers in these early civilizations were known by name.

[[Greek historiography|Systematic historical thought]] emerged in [[ancient Greece]], a development that became an important influence on the writing of history elsewhere around [[History of the Mediterranean region|the Mediterranean]] region. The earliest known critical historical works were ''[[Histories (Herodotus)|The Histories]]'', composed by [[Herodotus|Herodotus of Halicarnassus]] (484 – c.&nbsp;425&nbsp;[[Before Common Era|BCE]]) who later became known as the "father of history" ([[Cicero]]). Herodotus attempted to distinguish between more and less reliable accounts and personally conducted research by travelling extensively, giving written accounts of various [[Mediterranean Basin|Mediterranean]] cultures. Although Herodotus' overall emphasis lay on the actions and characters of men, he also attributed an important role to divinity in the determination of historical events. [[Thucydides]] largely eliminated divine causality in his account of the war between Athens and Sparta, establishing a rationalistic element that set a precedent for subsequent Western historical writings. He was also the first to distinguish between cause and immediate origins of an event, while his successor [[Xenophon]] ({{c.|lk=no|431}} – 355&nbsp;BCE) introduced autobiographical elements and character studies in his [[Anabasis (Xenophon)|Anabasis]].

[[Image:Leonardo Bruni - Imagines philologorum.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Leonardo Bruni]] ({{Circa|1370}}–1444), the historian who first divided history into the three eras of [[Ancient history|Antiquity]], the [[Middle Ages]], and [[Modern history|Modern times]].]]
The [[Roman historiography|Romans adopted the Greek tradition]]. While early Roman works were still written in Greek, the ''Origines'', composed by the Roman statesman [[Cato the Elder]] (234–149&nbsp;BCE), was written in Latin, in a conscious effort to counteract Greek cultural influence. [[Strabo]] (63&nbsp;BCE – {{c.|lk=no|24}}&nbsp;[[Common Era|CE]]) was an important exponent of the Greco-Roman tradition of combining geography with history, presenting a descriptive history of peoples and places known to his era. [[Livy]] (59&nbsp;BCE – 17&nbsp;CE) records the rise of [[Roman Empire|Rome]] from [[city-state]] to [[empire]]. His speculation about what would have happened if [[Alexander the Great]] had marched against Rome represents the first known instance of [[alternate history]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/txt/ah/Livy/Livy09.html |title=Livy's History of Rome: Book 9 |publisher=Mcadams.posc.mu.edu |access-date=2010-08-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070228233052/http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/txt/ah/Livy/Livy09.html |archive-date=2007-02-28 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In [[Chinese historiography]], the ''[[Classic of History]]'' is one of the [[Five Classics]] of [[Chinese classic texts]] and one of the earliest narratives of China.  The ''[[Spring and Autumn Annals]]'', the official chronicle of the State of Lu covering the period from 722 to 481&nbsp;BCE, is among the earliest surviving Chinese historical texts arranged on [[Annals|annalistic]] principles. [[Sima Qian]] (around 100&nbsp;BCE) was the first in China to lay the groundwork for professional historical writing. His written work was the ''[[Shiji]]'' (''[[Records of the Grand Historian]]''), a monumental lifelong achievement in literature. Its scope extends as far back as the 16th century&nbsp;BCE, and it includes many treatises on specific subjects and individual biographies of prominent people and also explores the lives and deeds of commoners, both contemporary and those of previous eras.<ref>{{cite book|author=Jörn Rüsen|title=Time and History: The Variety of Cultures|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SvGyzu-nLaUC&pg=PA54|year=2007|publisher=Berghahn Books|isbn=978-1-84545-349-7|pages=54–55}}</ref>

[[Image:Beda Petersburgiensis f3v.jpg|right|upright|thumb|A page of [[Bede]]'s ''Ecclesiastical History of the English People'']]
Christian historiography began early, perhaps as early as [[Luke-Acts]], which is the [[primary source]] for the [[Apostolic Age]]. Writing history was popular among Christian monks and clergy in the [[Middle Ages]]. They wrote about the history of Jesus Christ, that of the Church and that of their patrons, the dynastic history of the local rulers.  In the [[early medieval|Early Middle Ages]] historical writing often took the form of [[annals]] or [[chronicle]]s recording events year by year, but this style tended to hamper the analysis of events and causes.<ref>Warren, John (1998). ''The past and its presenters: an introduction to issues in historiography'', Hodder & Stoughton, {{ISBN|0-340-67934-4}}, pp. 78–79.</ref> An example of this type of writing is the [[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]s, which were the work of several different writers: it was started during the reign of [[Alfred the Great]] in the late ninth&nbsp;century, but one copy was still being updated in 1154.<ref>"Anglophile", Ryan Setliff Online. Dec 2. 2019. https://www.ryansetliff.online/#anglophile</ref>

[[Historiography of early Islam|Muslim historical writings]] first began to develop in the seventh century, with the reconstruction of the Prophet [[Muhammad]]'s life in the centuries following his death. With numerous conflicting narratives regarding Muhammad and his [[Sahaba|companions]] from various sources, scholars had to verify which sources were more reliable. To evaluate these sources, they developed various methodologies, such as the ''[[Ilm ar-Rijal|science of biography]]'', ''[[science of hadith]]'' and ''[[Isnad]]'' (chain of transmission). They later applied these methodologies to other historical figures in the [[Islamic Golden Age|Islamic civilization]]. Famous historians in this tradition include [[Urwah ibn Zubayr|Urwah]] (d.&nbsp;712), [[Wahb ibn Munabbih]] (d.&nbsp;728), [[Ibn Ishaq]] (d.&nbsp;761), [[al-Waqidi]] (745–822), [[Ibn Hisham]] (d.&nbsp;834), [[Muhammad al-Bukhari]] (810–870) and [[Ibn Hajar Asqalani|Ibn Hajar]] (1372–1449).

===Enlightenment===
During the [[Age of Enlightenment]], the modern development of historiography through the application of scrupulous methods began.

[[File:Voltaire-Baquoy.gif|thumb|left|[[Voltaire]]'s works of history are an excellent example of [[Enlightenment era]] history writing. Painting by [[Pierre Charles Baquoy]].]]
French ''[[Philosophes|philosophe]]'' [[Voltaire]] (1694–1778) had an enormous influence on the art of history writing. His best-known histories are ''The Age of Louis XIV'' (1751), and ''Essay on the Customs and the Spirit of the Nations'' (1756). "My chief object," he wrote in 1739, "is not political or military history, it is the history of the arts, of commerce, of civilization – in a word, – of the human mind."<ref>{{cite book|author=E. Sreedharan|title=A Textbook of Historiography: 500 BC to AD 2000|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jJVoi3PIejwC&pg=PA115|year=2004|publisher=Orient Blackswan|page=115|isbn=9788125026570}}</ref> He broke from the tradition of narrating diplomatic and military events, and emphasized customs, social history, and achievements in the arts and sciences. He was the first scholar to make a serious attempt to write the history of the world, eliminating theological frameworks, and emphasizing economics, culture, and political history.

[[File:Edward Gibbon by Henry Walton cleaned.jpg|thumb|right|upright|[[Edward Gibbon]]'s ''[[The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire|Decline of the Roman Empire]]'' (1776) was a masterpiece of late 18th-century history writing.]]
At the same time, philosopher [[David Hume]] was having a similar impact on history in [[Great Britain]]. In 1754, he published the ''[[The History of England (David Hume)|History of England]]'', a six-volume work that extended from the Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Revolution in 1688. Hume adopted a similar scope to Voltaire in his history; as well as the history of Kings, Parliaments, and armies, he examined the history of culture, including literature and science, as well.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Wertz | first1 = S. K. | year = 1993 | title = Hume and the Historiography of Science | jstor = 2710021 | journal = Journal of the History of Ideas | volume = 54 | issue = 3| pages = 411–436 | doi=10.2307/2710021}}</ref> [[William Robertson (historian)|William Robertson]], a Scottish historian, and the [[Historiographer Royal (Scotland)|Historiographer Royal]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.jamesboswell.info/content/poker-club|title=The Poker Club &#124; James Boswell .info|website=www.jamesboswell.info}}</ref> published the ''History of Scotland 1542 – 1603'', in 1759 and his most famous work, ''The history of the reign of [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]]'' in 1769.<ref>Sher, R. B., ''Church and Society in the Scottish Enlightenment: The Moderate Literati of Edinburgh'', Princeton, 1985.</ref> His scholarship was painstaking for the time and he was able to access a large number of documentary sources that had previously been unstudied. He was also one of the first historians who understood the importance of general and universally applicable ideas in the shaping of historical events.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.aaanet.org/committees/commissions/centennial/history/021hoebel.pdf|title=William Robertson: An 18th Century Anthropologist-Historian|access-date=2012-12-17}}</ref>

The apex of Enlightenment history was reached with [[Edward Gibbon]]'s, monumental six-volume work, ''[[The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire]]'', published on 17 February 1776. Because of its relative objectivity and heavy use of [[primary source]]s, at the time its methodology became a model for later historians. This has led to Gibbon being called the first "modern historian".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yH9rdaF1CckC|title=Theorists of the Modernist Novel: James Joyce, Dorothy Richardson and Virginia Woolf|author=Deborah Parsons|year=2007|publisher=Routledge|page=94|isbn=9780203965894}}</ref> The book sold impressively, earning its author a total of about £9000. Biographer [[Sir Leslie Stephen|Leslie Stephen]] wrote that thereafter, "His fame was as rapid as it has been lasting."

===19th century===
The tumultuous events surrounding the [[French Revolution]] inspired much of the historiography and analysis of the early 19th century. Interest in the 1688 [[Glorious Revolution]] was also rekindled by the [[Great Reform Act]] of 1832 in England.

[[Thomas Carlyle]] published his magnum opus, the three-volume ''[[The French Revolution: A History]]'' in 1837.<ref>{{cite book |first=H.E. |last=Marshall |chapter-url=http://marshall.thefreelibrary.com/English-Literature-For-Boys-And-Girls/82-1 |chapter=Carlyle – The Sage Of Chelsea |title=English Literature For Boys And Girls |via=Farlex Free Library |access-date=2009-09-19}}</ref><ref name="LL">{{cite web|url=http://www.criminalbrief.com/?p=8890 |title=Thomas Carlyle| last=Lundin|first=Leigh| date=2009-09-20|work=Professional Works|publisher=Criminal Brief|access-date=2009-09-20}}</ref> The resulting work had a passion new to historical writing. [[Thomas Macaulay]] produced his most famous work of history, ''[[The History of England from the Accession of James the Second]]'', in 1848.<ref>Macaulay, Thomas Babington, ''History of England''. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1878. Vol. V, title page and prefatory "Memoir of Lord Macaulay".</ref>  His writings are famous for their ringing prose and for their confident, sometimes dogmatic, emphasis on a progressive model of British history, according to which the country threw off superstition, autocracy and confusion to create a balanced constitution and a forward-looking culture combined with the freedom of belief and expression. This model of human progress has been called the [[Whig history|Whig interpretation of history]].<ref>J. R. Western, ''Monarchy and Revolution. The English State in the 1680s'' (London: Blandford Press, 1972), p. 403.</ref>

[[File:Jules Michelet portrait older.jpg|upright|thumb|Jules Michelet, later in his career.]]
In his main work ''Histoire de France'', French historian [[Jules Michelet]] coined the term [[Renaissance]] (meaning "Re-birth" in [[French language]]), as a period in Europe's cultural history that represented a break from the Middle Ages, creating a modern understanding of humanity and its place in the world.<ref>{{cite book|last=Brotton|author-link1=Jerry Brotton|first=Jerry|title=The Renaissance Bazaar|year=2002|publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=21–22}}</ref>
The nineteen-volume work covered French history from [[Charlemagne]] to the outbreak of the [[French Revolution|Revolution]]. Michelet was one of the first historians to shift the emphasis of history to the common people, rather than the leaders and institutions of the country. Another important French historian of the period was [[Hippolyte Taine]]. He was the chief theoretical influence of French [[Naturalism (literature)|naturalism]], a major proponent of [[sociological positivism]] and one of the first practitioners of [[Historicism|historicist]] criticism. Literary historicism as a critical movement has been said to originate with him.<ref>Kelly, R. Gordon, ''"Literature and the Historian"'', American Quarterly, Vol. 26, No. 2 (1974), 143.</ref>

One of the major progenitors of the history of [[cultural history|culture]] and [[art history|art]], was the Swiss historian [[Jacob Burckhardt]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/history/historian/Jacob_Burckhardt.html|title=Jacob Burckhardt The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy Cultural history|website=www.age-of-the-sage.org}}</ref> Burckhardt's best-known work is ''[[The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy]]'' (1860). According to [[John Lukacs]], he was the first master of cultural history, which seeks to describe the spirit and the forms of expression of a particular age, a particular people, or a particular place.<ref>John Lukacs, Remembered Past: John Lukacs on History, Historians, and Historical Knowledge, ed. Mark G Malvasi and Jeffrey O. Nelson, Wilmington, DE: ISI Books, 2004, 215.</ref> By the mid-19th century, scholars were beginning to analyse the history of institutional change, particularly the development of constitutional government. [[William Stubbs]]'s  ''Constitutional History of England'' (3 vols., 1874–78) was an important influence on this developing field. The work traced the development of the English constitution from the Teutonic invasions of Britain until 1485, and marked a distinct step in the advance of English historical learning.<ref>[[s:A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature/Stubbs, William]]</ref>

[[Karl Marx]] introduced the concept of [[historical materialism]] into the study of world-historical development. In his conception, the economic conditions and dominant modes of production determined the structure of society at that point. Previous historians had focused on the cyclical events of the rise and decline of rulers and nations. Process of [[nationalization of history]], as part of [[Romantic nationalism|national revival]]s in the 19th century, resulted with separation of "one's own" history from common [[Universal history (genre)|universal history]] by such way of perceiving, understanding and treating the past that constructed history as history of a nation.<ref name = "laboratory">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f52rawP96lYC&q=%22nationalisation+of+history%22&pg=PA39|title=A Laboratory of Transnational History Ukraine and recent Ukrainian historiography|access-date=October 18, 2010|author=Georgiy Kasianov, Philipp Terr|pages=7|quote=This essay deals with, what I call, "nationalized history", meaning a way of perceiving, understanding and treating the past that requires separation of "one's own" history from "common" history and its construction as history of a nation.|isbn=978-1-84545-621-4|date=2010-04-07|publisher=Berghahn Books }}</ref> A new discipline, [[sociology]], emerged in the late 19th century and analyzed and compared these perspectives on a larger scale.

===Professionalization in Germany===
[[Image:Leopold Von Ranke 1877.jpg|thumb|upright|right|[[Leopold von Ranke|Ranke]] established history as a professional academic discipline in Germany.]]
The modern academic study of history and methods of historiography were pioneered in 19th-century German universities. [[Leopold von Ranke]] was a pivotal influence in this regard, and is considered as the founder of modern source-based [[history]].<ref>Frederick C. Beiser (2011) ''The German Historicist Tradition'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=w2c6YaKf9usC&pg=PA254 p.254]</ref><ref>Janelle G. Reinelt, Joseph Roach (2007), ''Critical Theory and Performance'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=asORYuvznpQC&dq=rankean+positivism&pg=PA193 p. 193]</ref><ref>Stern (ed.), ''The Varieties of History'', p. 54: "Leopold von Ranke (1795–1886) is the father as well as the master of modern historical scholarship."</ref><ref>Green and Troup (eds.), ''The Houses of History'', p. 2: "Leopold von Ranke was instrumental in establishing professional standards for historical training at the University of Berlin between 1824 and 1871."</ref>

Specifically, he implemented the seminar teaching method in his classroom and focused on archival research and analysis of historical documents. Beginning with his first book in 1824, the ''History of the Latin and Teutonic Peoples from 1494 to 1514'', Ranke used an unusually wide variety of sources for a historian of the age, including "memoirs, diaries, personal and formal missives, government documents, diplomatic dispatches and first-hand accounts of eye-witnesses". Over a career that spanned much of the century, Ranke set the standards for much of later historical writing, introducing such ideas as reliance on [[primary source]]s ([[empiricism]]), an emphasis on [[narrative history]] and especially international politics (''[[political history|aussenpolitik]]'').<ref>E. Sreedharan, ''A textbook of historiography, 500&nbsp;BC to AD&nbsp;2000'' (2004) p 185</ref>  Sources had to be hard, not speculations and rationalizations. His credo was to write history the way it was. He insisted on primary sources with proven authenticity.<ref>Andreas Boldt, "Ranke: objectivity and history." ''Rethinking History'' 18.4 (2014): 457–474.</ref>

===20th century===
The term [[Whig history]] was coined by [[Herbert Butterfield]] in his short book ''The Whig Interpretation of History'' in 1931, (a reference to the British [[Whig (British political party)|Whig]]s, advocates of the power of [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliament]]) to refer to the approach to historiography that presents the past as an inevitable progression towards ever greater [[liberty]] and [[wikt:enlightenment|enlightenment]], culminating in modern forms of [[liberal democracy]] and [[constitutional monarchy]]. In general, Whig historians emphasized the rise of [[constitutional government]], [[personal freedom]]s, and [[scientific progress]]. The term has been also applied widely in historical disciplines outside of [[British history]] (the [[history of science]], for example) to criticize any [[Teleology|teleological]] (or goal-directed), hero-based, and [[Transhistoricity|transhistorical]] narrative.<ref>Ernst Mayr, "When Is Historiography Whiggish?" ''Journal of the History of Ideas,'' April 1990, Vol. 51 Issue 2, pp 301–309 [https://www.jstor.org/pss/2709517 in JSTOR]</ref> Butterfield's antidote to Whig history was "...to evoke a certain sensibility towards the past, the sensibility which studies the past 'for the sake of the past', which delights in the concrete and the complex, which 'goes out to meet the past', which searches for 'unlikenesses between past and present'."<ref>Adrian Wilson and T. G. Ashplant, "Whig History and Present-Centred History", ''The Historical Journal'', 31 (1988): 1–16, at p. 10.</ref> Butterfield's formulation received much attention, and the kind of historical writing he argued against in generalised terms is no longer academically respectable.<ref>''G. M. Trevelyan'' (1992), p. 208.</ref>

[[File:Marc Bloch.jpg|thumb|left|upright|The 20th century saw the creation of a huge variety of historiographical approaches. [[Marc Bloch]]'s focus on social history rather than traditional political history was of tremendous influence.]]
The French [[Annales School]] radically changed the focus of historical research in France during the 20th century by stressing long-term social history, rather than political or diplomatic themes. The school emphasized the use of quantification and the paying of special attention to geography.<ref>Lucien Febvre, ''La Terre et l'évolution humaine'' (1922), translated as ''A Geographical Introduction to History'' (London, 1932).</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.editions.ehess.fr/revues/annales-histoire-sciences-sociales/numeros-parus/|title=Les Éditions de l'EHESS: Annales. Histoire, Sciences sociales|website=www.editions.ehess.fr}}</ref> An eminent member of this school, [[Georges Duby]], described his approach to history as one that <blockquote>relegated the sensational to the sidelines and was reluctant to give a simple accounting of events, but strived on the contrary to pose and solve problems and, neglecting surface disturbances, to observe the long and medium-term evolution of economy, society, and civilisation.</blockquote>

[[Marxist historiography]] developed as a school of historiography influenced by the chief tenets of [[Marxism]], including the centrality of [[social class]] and [[economic]] constraints in determining historical outcomes. [[Friedrich Engels]] wrote ''[[The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844]]'', which was salient in creating the [[socialist]] impetus in British politics from then on, e.g. the [[Fabian Society]]. [[R. H. Tawney]]'s ''The Agrarian Problem in the Sixteenth Century'' (1912)<ref>[[William Rose Benét]] (1988) p.&nbsp;961</ref> and ''Religion and the Rise of Capitalism'' (1926), reflected his ethical concerns and preoccupations in [[economic history]]. A [[Communist Party Historians Group|circle of historians]] inside the [[Communist Party of Great Britain]] (CPGB) formed in 1946 and became a highly influential cluster of British [[Marxist historiography|Marxist historians]], who contributed to [[history from below]] and class structure in early capitalist society. Members included [[Christopher Hill (historian)|Christopher Hill]], [[Eric Hobsbawm]] and [[E. P. Thompson]].

[[World history (field)|World history]], as a distinct field of historical study, emerged as an independent academic field in the 1980s. It focused on the examination of [[history]] from a global perspective and looked for common [[pattern]]s that emerged across all cultures. [[Arnold J. Toynbee]]'s ten-volume ''A Study of History'', written between 1933 and 1954, was an important influence on this developing field. He took a comparative topical approach to independent civilizations and demonstrated that they displayed striking parallels in their origin, growth, and decay.<ref>William H. McNeill, ''Arnold J. Toynbee a Life'' (1989)</ref> [[William Hardy McNeill|William H. McNeill]] wrote ''The Rise of the West'' (1965) to improve upon Toynbee by showing how the separate civilizations of Eurasia interacted from the very beginning of their history, borrowing critical skills from one another, and thus precipitating still further change as adjustment between traditional old and borrowed new knowledge and practice became necessary.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = McNeill | first1 = William H. | year = 1995 | title = The Changing Shape of World History | journal = History and Theory | volume = 34 | issue = 2| pages = 8–26 | doi=10.2307/2505432| jstor = 2505432 }}</ref>

====Historical editing====
A new advanced specialty opened in the late 20th century: historical editing. [[Edmund Morgan (historian)|Edmund Morgan]] reports on its emergence in the United States:<ref>Edmund S. Morgan, "John Adams and the Puritan Tradition." ''New England Quarterly'' 34#4 (1961): 518–529 at p. 519.</ref><blockquote>It required, to begin with, large sums of money. But money has proved easier to recruit than talent. Historians who undertake these large editorial projects must leave the main channel of academic life. They do not teach; they do not write their own books; they do not enjoy long vacations for rumination, reflection, and research on whatever topic interests them at the moment. Instead they must live in unremitting daily pursuit of an individual whose company, whatever his genius, may ultimately begin to pall. Anyone who has edited historical manuscripts knows that it requires as much physical and intellectual labor to prepare a text for publication as it does to write a book of one's own. Indeed, the new editorial projects are far too large for one man. The editor-in-chief, having decided to forego a regular academic career, must entice  other scholars to help him; and with the present [high] demand for college teachers, this is no easy task. </blockquote>

==Education and profession==
{{further|List of historians}}
[[File:Peter Brown Balzan Prize Ceremony 2011.JPG|thumb|upright|[[Peter Brown (historian)|Peter R.L Brown]], a Princeton historian of [[late antiquity]] and the [[Middle Ages|medieval]] period.]]
An undergraduate history degree is often used as a stepping stone to graduate studies in business or law. Many historians are employed at universities and other facilities for post-secondary education.<ref name="blsgov">{{Cite web|url=http://stats.bls.gov/oco/ocos054.htm|url-status=dead|title=Social Scientists, Other|work=Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2008–09 Edition|publisher=U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090830051426/http://stats.bls.gov/oco/ocos054.htm |archivedate=August 30, 2009}}</ref> In addition, it is normal for colleges and universities to require a PhD degree for new full-time hires. A scholarly thesis, such as a doctoral dissertation, is now regarded as the baseline qualification for a professional historian. However, some historians still gain recognition based on published (academic) works and the award of fellowships by academic bodies like the [[Royal Historical Society]]. Publication is increasingly required by smaller schools, so graduate papers become journal articles and PhD dissertations become published monographs. The graduate student experience is difficult—those who finish their doctorate in the United States take on average 8 or more years; funding is scarce except at a few very rich universities. {{Citation needed|date=December 2023}} Being a teaching assistant in a course is required in some programs; in others it is a paid opportunity awarded a fraction of the students. Until the 1970s it was rare for graduate programs to teach how to teach; the assumption was that teaching was easy and that learning how to do research was the main mission.<ref>Michael Kammen, "Some Reminiscences and Reflections on Graduate Education in History, ''Reviews in American History'' Volume 36, Number 3, Sept 2008 pp. 468–484 {{doi|10.1353/rah.0.0027}}</ref><ref>Walter Nugent, "Reflections: "Where Have All the Flowers Gone . . . When Will They Ever Learn?", ''Reviews in American History''  Volume 39, Number 1, March 2011, pp. 205–211 {{doi|10.1353/rah.2011.0055}}</ref> A critical experience for graduate students is having a mentor who will provide psychological, social, intellectual and professional support, while directing scholarship and providing an introduction to the profession.<ref>Michael Kammen, "On Mentoring Apprentice Historians and Appreciating Mentors—Gleaned From the Memories of Others." ''Reviews in American History'' 40.2 (2012): 339–348. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/41678570 online]</ref>

Professional historians typically work in colleges and universities, archival centers, government agencies, museums, and as freelance writers and consultants.<ref>Anthony Grafton and Robert B. Townsend, "The Parlous Paths of the Profession" [http://www.historians.org/Perspectives/issues/2008/0810/0810pro1.cfm ''Perspectives on History'' (Sept. 2008) online]</ref> The job market for new PhDs in history is poor and getting worse, with many relegated to part-time "adjunct" teaching jobs with low pay and no benefits.<ref>Robert B. Townsend and Julia Brookins, "The Troubled Academic Job Market for History." ''Perspectives on History'' (2016) 54#2 pp 157–182 echoes Robert B. Townsend, "Troubling News on Job Market for History PhDs", [http://blog.historians.org/articles/953/troubling-news-on-job-market-for-history-phds ''AHA Today''  Jan. 4, 2010 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110116023230/http://blog.historians.org/articles/953/troubling-news-on-job-market-for-history-phds |date=2011-01-16 }}</ref>

==="Amateur" historians===
[[C. Vann Woodward]] (1908–1999), Sterling Professor of History at Yale University, cautioned that the academicians had themselves abdicated their role as storytellers:<blockquote>Professionals do well to apply the term "amateur" with caution to the historian outside their ranks. The word does have deprecatory and patronizing connotations that occasionally backfire. This is especially true of narrative history, which nonprofessionals have all but taken over. The gradual withering of the narrative impulse in favor of the analytical urge among professional academic historians has resulted in a virtual abdication of the oldest and most honored role of the historian, that of storyteller. Having abdicated... the professional is in a poor position to patronize amateurs who fulfill the needed function he has abandoned.<ref>C. Vann Woodward, "The Great American Butchery", ''New York Review of Books'' (March 6, 1975) [https://nybooks.com/articles/1975/03/06/the-great-american-butchery/ online].</ref></blockquote>

==See also==
{{commons category|Historians}}
* [[List of historians]]
* {{Annotated link|Antiquarian}}
* {{Annotated link|Auxiliary sciences of history}}
* {{Annotated link|Historiography}}
* {{Annotated link|Historical revisionism}}
** {{Annotated link|Historical negationism}}

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

=== Sources ===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite journal |first=Wendie Ellen |last=Schneider |date = June 2001 |title = Past Imperfect: Irving v. Penguin Books Ltd., No. 1996-I-1113, 2000 WL 362478 (Q. B. Apr. 11), appeal denied (Dec. 18, 2000) |journal = The Yale Law Journal |volume=110 |number=8 |pages=1531–1545 |url = http://www.yalelawjournal.org/pdf/110-8/schneider.pdf |doi = 10.2307/797584 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131105162936/http://www.yalelawjournal.org/pdf/110-8/schneider.pdf |archive-date = 5 November 2013 |jstor = 797584 }}
* {{cite journal |first = Gian Marco |last=Vidor |year = 2015 |title = Emotions and writing the history of death. An interview with Michel Vovelle, Régis Bertrand and Anne Carol |journal = Mortality |volume=20 |number=1 |pages = 36–47 |doi = 10.1080/13576275.2014.984485 |doi-access=free |hdl = 11858/00-001M-0000-0026-B624-9 |hdl-access = free }}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
* ''The American Historical Association's Guide to Historical Literature'' ed. by Mary Beth Norton and Pamela Gerardi (3rd ed. 2 vol, Oxford U.P. 1995) 2064 pages; annotated guide to 27,000 of the most important English language history books in all fields and topics [http://hdl.handle.net/2027/heb.06298 vol 1 online], [http://hdl.handle.net/2027/heb.06298 vol 2 online]
* Allison, William Henry. ''A guide to historical literature'' (1931) comprehensive bibliography for scholarship to 1930. [http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=acls;cc=acls;view=toc;idno=heb06297.0001.001 online edition]
* Barnes, Harry Elmer''A history of historical writing'' (1962)
* Barraclough, Geoffrey. ''History: Main Trends of Research in the Social and Human Sciences,'' (1978)
*Bentley, Michael. ed., ''Companion to Historiography'', Routledge, 1997, {{ISBN|0415030846}} pp; 39 chapters by experts
* Bender, Thomas, et al. '' The Education of Historians for Twenty-first Century'' (2003) report by the Committee on Graduate Education of the American Historical Association
*Breisach, Ernst. ''Historiography: Ancient, Medieval and Modern'', 3rd edition, 2007, {{ISBN|0-226-07278-9}}
* Boia, Lucian ''et al.'', eds. ''Great Historians of the Modern Age: An International Dictionary'' (1991)
* Cannon, John, et al., eds. ''The Blackwell Dictionary of Historians''. Blackwell Publishers, 1988 {{ISBN|0-631-14708-X}}.
*Gilderhus, Mark T. ''History and Historians: A Historiographical Introduction'', 2002, {{ISBN|0-13-044824-9}}
*Iggers, Georg G. ''Historiography in the 20th Century: From Scientific Objectivity to the Postmodern Challenge'' (2005)
* Kelly, Boyd, ed. ''Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writing''. (1999). Fitzroy Dearborn {{ISBN|1-884964-33-8}}
* Kramer, Lloyd, and Sarah Maza, eds. ''A Companion to Western Historical Thought'' Blackwell 2006. 520pp; {{ISBN|978-1-4051-4961-7}}.
* Todd, Richard B. ed. ''Dictionary of British Classicists, 1500–1960'', (2004). Bristol: Thoemmes Continuum, 2004 {{ISBN|1-85506-997-0}}.
* Woolf D. R. ''A Global Encyclopedia of Historical Writing'' (Garland Reference Library of the Humanities) (2 vol 1998) [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0815315147/ excerpt and text search]

==External links==
{{Commons category|Historians}}
{{Wikiquote}}
{{wiktionary}}
*[http://www.culturahistorica.es/texts_historians.html Selected texts by the most known historians] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323145756/http://www.culturahistorica.es/texts_historians.html |date=2010-03-23 }}
{{Historiography}}{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Historians| ]]
[[Category:Humanities occupations]]