Source, Context, and Bias in History

Read the specific meanings historians attach to common words about evidence.

Historians use ordinary words with a working precision. A 'source' is any material that provides evidence about the past: a letter, a census record, a photograph, a tool. 'Context' means the circumstances surrounding a source, such as when, where, why, and by whom it was made. 'Bias' in historical writing is not simply an insult; it describes the perspective, interests, or limits that shape what a source includes and leaves out. Every source has some bias, and historians use it rather than discarding the source.

Worked example: 'A factory owner's 1890 diary praises working conditions. ' A historian notes the context (an owner writing about his own factory) and the likely bias (he benefits from the conditions). The diary is still valuable. It reveals how owners saw themselves and may be compared with workers' letters. Bias tells you how to read a source, not whether to read it.

• 1A source is any material that gives evidence about the past.
• 2Context is the who, when, where, and why of a source.
• 3Bias shapes how to read a source; it does not make it useless.