131-432 The Historian at Work

Usually admission to the postgraduate diploma or fourth year honours in history.

This subject consists of instruction in the reading and transcription of manuscripts, specifically the Elizabethan Secretary Hand, which emerged around the middle of the 16th century and was used by most people until about the end of the 17th century. The subject will also involve paleographic examination of official or original documents and the processes which produced them, including principles of editing such documents. The subject provides students with training in early modern paleography and the techniques of working in international archives. The archival evidence investigated by students will be used to consider the relationship of the historian to people and events; the historian's use of archival material in respect of modern theoretical approaches; and the way in which historians may integrate archival research and theoretical insights when they exercise their craft as writers.