I’m sure this seems like an extremely obvious question, but, since this is my first article, I thought it might be nice to start at the beginning.

There are many ways you can define the word “History,” and I’m quite certain that each of us would have a different definition. I think it’s safe to say that History covers things that have already happened. Maybe the event was as recent as your last birthday, which couldn’t be more than a year ago, unless you’re a leap-year baby, but, as I’m writing this article, our last “leap” was less than a week ago. Maybe we’re talking about people who wore funny clothes, who talked in funny ways, who rode horses everywhere and always were perfectly proper. Or, perhaps, the word History for you conjures people in loincloths, hunting saber-toothed cats and wooly mammoths.

For me, history is a finite period of time. It spans from just before the present, back to the point at which our historical record begins. There have been people on the earth for a very long time, but History can only cover the time during which those people have left evidence of themselves – either through their own writings, or through other cultures that happened to write about them. I consider anything that predates writing as being Pre-History; it is well within the realm of our topic, but it must be treated as more of a hypothetical. Since we don’t have anything to tell us what that culture thought of themselves or the world around them, we can only speculate based on local myths or archaeological finds.

History, for me, is also very dynamic. Every researcher who uncovers a bit of information that has been “lost,” every person who uncovers a letter from an ancestor that sheds light on a particular time or event, every kid who grows up to do something amazing changes our historical record.

Since we’re on the subject, I think it is equally vital to discus what History is not. History is NOT:

• Boring! History is your past, the past of everyone around you, and it is the only way to get to your future! I remember an adage about being “doomed to repeat…” something, but I much prefer to say: If you don’t know where you’ve been, you can’t possibly know where you’re going!

• An Opinion! Each person has a different point of view of the events of the past, but when studying History it is necessary to focus on the FACTS and not the FEELINGS. If you learn about an event and you feel excited, happy, and thrilled or disturbed, disgusted, and angry that is a great thing! Those emotions will help you remember the history. But, your emotions don’t make the history – the emotions and feelings of the people you’re studying make the history. As historians, we must focus on the facts that have been written for us, and on checking sources to make sure ours is correct.

• Things that are happening currently! Often you’ll hear people say that an event is “History in the Making!” Occasionally, they’re right. Many times though, the event is forgotten almost as quickly as you can change the channel. If an event just happened, it isn’t history – it’s a current event. It isn’t until some time passes that you can really study how the event affects the culture. As soon as you can see how much or how little people have been affected, then it has become History.


I hope that over the next few months and years we can explore together many different aspects of history as we search for our individual futures.

Happy History Hunting!