History With RCS: An Introduction

             

                I seem to be concerned about my slant on history and prehistory; why else would I have seven introductory post. Could it be that my learning curve is still very steep.

                

                 History is where we come from. It's what made us, us, or not. The following lines are a telling of what you may find here without the details, but with a plus or two.

                  These posts will deal with history of a variety of sorts. I am not sure of the names of all the categories yet. However, let me give tentative names of a few:

                American History, which will mostly deal with the history of the United States of America.

History and pre-history of  American Indian Cultures.      

Archaeology, geological time, and beyond.

An Introduction to These History posts

                The following is a sort of history you might find on this page in the future. I have my biases. For example, Irish history seems so important to me I may put it on a completely different Page which I may call Ireland and Irish.

                RCS stands for Richard Carroll Sheehan and I am that Richard. I live in Colombia and guard my American citizenship.                                                                                                                                                                                                              

                There are those who deprecate history itself. So common is this deprecation that the expression "That's history." has become deprecatory. I like it. It's our story.

                That which happened this morning is history. That is, it is history when someone can tell me about it, or when I witness it and tell you about it. Basically, it seems that history is that which is told about what has happened. I suspect that there are historians who would not find this simplification a bit too simple. 

                By attending to a history, one may not only learn what happened, but also how it happened and other potentially useful information. History can be felt as the pleasure of a good story. Even a history, badly told can contain useful info.

                Some say that experience is the best teacher and that history is an accounting of our experience

                This history business is not always easy. For example, many would agree that a history not told be a historian is just a story. Then again a true story might be thought a history. But then again there are historians who are falsifiers. Not easy.

                A lot more can be said and is said about history. As an example it is said that historians record and present history in accord with their own worldviews and perspectives. Some record it as they see it. More try to make sense of histories told by others. A great many historians embrace truth and reality, in accord with how they have seen it and understood it. I believe that their interest in reality is great. 

                I believe that you could be a historian. When you value evidence, know a true story, and have a realistic imagination, you may be a pretty good one. However, many will call you a story teller, unless you have documents as your principle source of evidence. 

                Many professional historians tend to examine the nature of changes as an important part of their work. They examine all sorts of changes: cultural, economic, technological and many more.

                History is not a science. It has an immense number of variables, yet has no laboratory. Historians do have the advantage of hindsight and they use that advantage. They also find help in the questions they entertain. Such as: "How did we get into this mess?" and "Why did that happen?" At other times they test their ability to suspend judgement and try to place themselves in the context of the moment.

                As I think about it, there seems to be a very great deal to learn about the doing of history. I may write more as I begin to learn more. In the meantime I will try to share a good story or two and a few of the curiosities of the past. Historians have been called antiquarians; doesn't that have a romantic ring.

                History With RCS is an ongoing happening.

 

                                                                RCS