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Leopold von Ranke: 'History as it really was?' - Coggle Diagram
Leopold von Ranke: 'History as it really was?'
Leopold von Ranke
Involved in the wider process of shaping historical enquiry over c19th
Came from a family of pastors and lawyers (professional careers)
Timeline/ achievements
1814: Studies Classics and Theology at the University of Leipzig
1824: Published
History of the Latin and Teutonic Peoples from 1591-1514
1825: Obtained a position at the University of Berlin
1871: Retires and during his retirement, produces 50+ works and becomes recognised outside of Germany
1874: Prussian privy councillor
1884: First honorary member of the American Historical Association
Professionalisation of history as a discipline
Ethos
Empiricism
Ranke established himself as in support of history as a 'strict presentation of facts', aiming to 'show the past as it essentially was'
History of the Latin and Teutonic Peoples
(1824)
Captures something different/new to how people were perceiving history writing in c19th
A similar ethos is articulated by others, including
Wilhelm von Humboldt (1822)
Objectivity
Archives
Critical study of sources
Transfers theological skills to historical sources
Not the first person to do so, but captures the major shift in organising evidence
Publishing boom
Production of critical editions (produced by people in order to produce a difficult test in print, making texts available and more accessible to people)
E.g.
Montumenta Germaniae Historica
(1819)
HOWEVER
It is important to note that dictated what was allowed into the archived and what was filtered out
Becomes a spotlighting of a very narrow pool of voices in c19th
Institutionalisation
Universities (beginning in 'Germany')
Research and teaching
Formal training in research (doctorate)
Seminar system, rather than just lectures
Develops a global circulation about teaching
What happens to the vision in c19th Germany will impact universities from there on
New textual communities
E.g. scholarly historical journals
Academic journals focusing on a. specific field for the audience for others in the same field
Takes off in the latter part of c19th
Requires a regular stream of people interested in producing work for the journal, and leadership
HOWEVER
Not everybody in c19th was able to go to university
It was far from accessible and often women were forbidden
'The masculanization of histry-writong'
Bonnie Smith,
The Gender of History: Men, Women, and Historical Practice
(1998)