Using Non-Textual Sources: A Historian's Guide

by Catherine Armstrong

Using Non-Textual Sources provides history students with the theoretical background and skills to interpret non-textual sources. It introduces the full range of non-textual sources used by historians and offers practical guidance on how to interpret them and incorporate them into essays and dissertations. In addition to this, the book posits a theoretical framework that justifies the use of these items as historical sources and explains how they can be used to further understand the past.

There is coverage of the creation, production and distribution of non-textual sources; the acquisition of skills to 'read' these sources analytically; and the meaning, significance and reliability of these forms of evidence. Using Non-Textual Sources includes a section on interdisciplinary non-textual source work, outlining what historians borrow from disciplines such as art history, archaeology, geography and media studies, as well as a discussion of how to locate these resources online and elsewhere in order to use them in essays and dissertations.

Case studies, such as the Tudor religious propaganda painting Edward VI and the Pope, the 1954 John Ford Western The Searchers and the Hereford Mappa Mundi, are employed throughout to illustrate the functions of main source types. Photographs, cartoons, maps, artwork, audio clips, film, places and artifacts are all explored in a text that provides students with a comprehensive, cohesive and practical guide to using non-textual sources.

160 pages, Paperback

First published December 17, 2015

Reviews

[Luke W · Rating 3 out of 5]

I blitzed through this book in preparation for a research paper on "assessing the utility of non-textual sources." As one can assume from the title, this is the perfect resource for such a topic; however, this of course did not make it a pleasant read. It deserves 3 stars though for its worthy contribution to one of life's most niche subjects.

In summary, Catherine Armstrong's two chief arguments of the book are: (1) non-textual and textual sources should not be separated but rather the two should be used in combination to enhance our understanding of the past, and (2) non-textual sources should be afforded the same treatment and respect that you would give to textual primary sources.

Notable quote: "Although there are many similarities between the non-textual and textual primary source, sometimes the visual or the aural has something different to tell us. It enhances our understanding of the historical past by appealing to a range of sense. It allows us to experience a historical moment more vividly and with an intensity that means we can share something with people in the past."

[Daruma ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was recommended this book by my history professor and it gives you what it promises. You acquire undergraduate-level understanding for analyzing non-textual sources and the diversity of forms they come in.

Though the author acknowledges this, the anglocentrism of the examples and case studies was staggeringly strong, which makes the advice harder to apply on non-Western research. Moreover, I would have appreciated if the case studies were more analytical of the particular source and demonstrated to what details you can dig in when dissecting its historical impact, instead of simply situating them in historical context in most cases.

Overall, by using countless examples from history, you come to consider how to approach these types of resources from the necessary angles while learning about interesting historical events as a bonus.