1. What is History? the sum total of all that has happened in the past an account of the past It is a discipline that gives people an understanding of themselves and others in relation to the world, both past and present.

2. The Past All Actions and Thoughts By All Individuals In All Times and Places 1. Events observed by someone. (Events not observed have been lost to history) 2. Events observed and remembered. (Events observed but not remembered have been lost to history) 3. Events observed, remembered and recorded. (Unrecorded actions and thoughts have been lost to history) 4. Events for which we have surviving records. (This is the raw material of History) 5. Available,usable, believable records for a given historical account. 6. The Account

3. History is more than the study of the past. It is the process of recording, reconstructing and interpreting the past through the investigation of a variety of sources. History is the act of selecting, analyzing and writing about the past.

4. Even the best history is not much better than a mist through which we see shapes dimly moving. Bruce Catton History is a dim candle over a dark abyss. W.S.Holt

5. Elements of Historical Mindedness / Sensitivity to how other times and places differ from our own / Awareness of basic continuities in human affairs over time / Ability to note and explain significant changes / Sensitivity to multiple causation / Awareness that all history is a reconstruction that inadequately reflects the past as it really happened / Sensitivity to how other times and places differ from our own / Awareness of basic continuities in human affairs over time / Ability to note and explain significant changes / Sensitivity to multiple causation / Awareness that all history is a reconstruction that inadequately reflects the past as it really happened

6. Stages of Historical Consciousness / History as fact / History as causal sequence / History as complexity / History as interpretation / History as fact / History as causal sequence / History as complexity / History as interpretation

7. The Methods and Skills of History A Practical Guide by Conal Furay and Michael Salevouris