It’s About Time: Historical Methods as Qualitative Research

Karen Saucier Lundy, PhD, RN, FAANProfessor Emeritus

The University of Southern Mississippi

College of Nursing

History does not refer merely, or even

principally, to the past. On the contrary, the great

force of history comes from the fact that we carry it with us, are

unconsciously controlled by it, in many ways, and

history is literally present in all that we do.”

-James Baldwin

Why historical research?

Been there, done that….

• Historical influences “run in the background” of contemporary issues

• Bring background to the contemporary forefront to illuminate the present and direct the future

• Means to understand values, beliefs and received wisdom

“The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”

William Faulkner

—Gavin Stevens Act I, Scene III, Requiem for a Nun

Historians are like deaf people who go on answering questions that no one has asked them.

Leo Tolstoy

Vincent Van Gogh

Historical Methods

Don’t know much about history…

Recent studies indicate we don’t know or care too much about history…

Easy for you to say..what is historiography?

Synthesis of gathering data of a particular period in history to analyze and develop theoretical and holistic conclusions

A historian studies history and may teach history…the historiographer writes and interprets history.

History is a myth that men agree to believe.

-Napoleon Bonaparte

History is the lie commonly agreed upon.

-Voltaire

Historian as detective….

Historians look under stones…not just describing the appearance and location of the stone.

Dwell on the past and you'll lose an eye. Forget the past and you'll lose both eyes.

-Russian proverb

Types of Historical Studies

• Case studies• Autobiographies• Life histories• Oral histories

So where does one begin….

Which way, what stone???

One thing about the past,

     It is likely to last.

Some of it is horrid and some

sublime,     And there is

more of it all the time.

Ogden Nash

Data Sources

• Primary Sources►First person “eyewitness” accounts

• Secondary Sources ►One or more steps

removed, interpreted by others.

Written original documents

• Letters• Diaries• Journals• Scribbling• Literature

Florence Nightingale contract with new nurse at Scutari

1854Memorandum of Agreement made

this first day of December 1854 BetweenMiss Nightingale on the one part and Mrs. Hefferman

of London on the other part.Whereas the said Miss Nightingale Superintendent

has undertaken to provide Female Nurses for the Sickand Wounded of the British Army serving in Turkey,

Andto pay all expenses of return to this Country, should

Sickness render it necessary for the said Mrs. Hefferman

Mrs. Hefferman to return, Save and exceptsuch return shall be rendered necessary by the

discharge of the said Mrs. Heffermanfor neglect of duty, immoral conduct, or intoxication,

in which case the said Mrs. Heffermanshall forfeit all claim upon Miss Nightingalefrom the period of such discharge. And the

said Mrs. Hefferman hereby agreesto devote her whole time and attention to the

purposesaforesaid under the directions and to the satisfaction

of the said Superintendent, the whole of whose orders

she undertakes to obey, until discharged by the saidSuperintendent.

For what is Mysticism? Is it not the attempt to draw near to God, not by rites or ceremonies, but by inward disposition? Is it not merely a hard word for 'The Kingdom of Heaven is within'? Heaven is neither a place nor a time.

Florence Nightingale, 1873

Literature

• Fiction• Non Fiction• Poetry• Published…and

unpublished• Children’s stories

Art forms

• Paintings• Sculpture• Photographs

Florence Nightingale 1858

Where to look…and listen..using ALL your senses

• Diaries• Newspapers• Minutes of meetings• Eye witness accounts• Official documents• Maps• Letters• Art• Music• Theater, films

Salem Nurse Witches Death Warrant Trial June 29 1692

•Whereas Sarah Good Wife of William Good of Salem Village Rebecka Nurse wife of Francis  Nurse of Salem Villiage Susanna Martin of Amesbury Widow Elizabeth How wife of James How of Ipswich Sarah Wild Wife of John Wild of Topsfield all of the County of Essex in their Maj'ts Province of ye Massachusetts Bay in New England Att A Court of Oyer & Terminer held by Adjournment for Our Soveraign Lord & Lady King William & Queen Mary for ye said County of Essex at Salem in the s'd County on ye 29th day of June [torn] were Severaly arraigned on Several Indictments for the horrible Crime of Witchcraft by them practised & Committed On Severall persons and pleading not guilty did for their Tryall put themselves on God & Thier Countrey whereupon they were Each of them found & brought in Guilty by ye Jury that passed On them according to their respective Indictments and Sentence of death did then pass upon them as the Law directs Execution whereof yet remains to be done:

Locating sources…

• Leave no stone unturned• Museums• Online databases• Libraries• Personal belongings…the attic!• Personal contacts

First stage…

• Identify phenomenon• Read, read, read! Yes, novels too!• Listen to what “those who know”

say• Listen to music• Observe art• Watch select films• Select time period or era

Second stage…

• Develop research question, hypothesis

• Identify theoretical perspective

To use theory or not…

• Conceptual framework, such as postmodernism, critical theory, helps focus and decipher historical events as recorded.

• Historical investigation and analysis always about knowable truth.

Next…

• Data exploration and collection• Digitalization of data sources• Back up data and then back up

again!• Time and labor intensive!

What have I found…and what now??

• Fact checking• Validity and reliability• Analysis of data from source• Evaluation of located data• Meaning of missing data• Determination of patterns,

generalization, themes…

How much faith can we have in the accuracy of the historical picture given?

Are the generalization made from the historical cases legitimate?

It has been said that although God cannot alter the past, historians can. It is perhaps because they can be useful to him in this respect that he tolerates their existence.

Samuel Butler

Reliability of Data Sources

• Establishing authenticity• Evaluating “survival bias”• Comparison to other types of data

sources from same era or of similar phenomena

• Corroboration• Internal criticism• Meaning and language and culture

Validity of Data Sources

• External critique of data• Paper or source “age”• Writing style of author• Origin• Consistency with other evidence• Verification by experts

Validity of Data Sources

• Data should include at least two sources of same type of information

• ►Two primary sources, without conflict or disagreement.

• ►One primary source and one independent secondary source, corroborated with

primary source and NO substantial contradictory information.

A rose by any other name..is not always a rose

↕Understand how words are used in past contexts as compared to contemporary usage.

“…if I were condemned and brought to the place of judgment and I saw the torch lit and the faggots ready, and the executioner ready to kindle the fire, and if I were within the fire, yet I would say nothing else and I would maintain unto death what I have said in this trial." Joan of Arc at her trial in Rouen, France.

“Historical truth does exist, not in the scientific sense, but as a reasonable approximation of the past. “

-Foner"

German Nurses of the

Third Reich

Joan of Arc

"Rouen! Rouen! Must I die here? Ah, Rouen, I fear you will have to suffer for my death!"

“I am not afraid... I was born to do this.”

Jeanne d’Arc

Purvis MS Tornado of 1908

Student Nurses 1945

Biography

Nurse Corps 1918 Camp Sherman

Diaries….

Witches in Art

Archives and Libraries

Witches, Midwives and Nurses (Ehrenreich,English, 1973)

Lady with the Lamp

Nightingale on Women…

Women never have a half-hour in all their lives (excepting before or after anybody is up in the house) that they can call their own, without fear of offending or of hurting someone. Why do people sit up so late, or, more rarely, get up so early? Not because the day is not long enough, but because they have 'no time in the day to themselves.' [1852]

• "There are plenty of other women to do it."

Nightingale…in photos

Nightingale and Joan of Arc

I can stand out the war with any man. F.N.

I stand at the altar of the murdered men, and, while I live, I fight their cause. F.N.

1412 -1431 Jeanne d’Arc

• "Pass that by [Passez outré]. I was thirteen when I had a Voice from God for my help and guidance. The first time that I heard this Voice, I was very much frightened; it was mid-day, in the summer, in my father's garden. I had not fasted the day before. I heard this Voice to my right, towards the Church; rarely do I hear it without its being accompanied also by a light. This light comes from the same side as the Voice. Generally it is a great light. Since I came into France I have often heard this Voice."

1412 -1431 Jeanne d’Arc

In God's name, we must fight them! Even if the English hang from the clouds, yet we shall have them! For God sends us to punish them.

"If I am not, may God put me there, and if I am, may God so keep me! I should be the saddest creature in the world if I knew I was not in His grace."

Article 2 Joan of Arc Condemnation TrialAct of Accusation

• ARTICLE 2• The Accused, not only this year, but from her infancy, and not only in your

Diocese, Bishop, and your jurisdiction, Deputy, but also in many other places of this kingdom, had done, composed, contrived and ordained a number of sacrileges and superstitions : she made herself a diviner; she caused herself to be adored and venerated; she had invoked demons, and evil spirits; consulted them, associated with them, had made and had with them compacts, treaties, and conventions, had made use of them, had furnished to others, acting in the same manner, aid, succor, and favor, and had, in much, led them on to act like herself; she had said, affirmed, and maintained that to act thus, to use witchcraft, divination's, superstitions, was not a sin, was not a forbidden thing, but, on the contrary, a thing lawful, to be praised, worthy of approval; also she had led into these errors and evil doings a very great number of persons of divers estates, of both sexes, and had imprinted on their hearts the most fatal errors. Jeanne had been taken and arrested within the limits of your diocese of Beauvais, in the very act (flagrante delicto) of perpetrating all these misdoings.

• "What have you to say to this Article?" • "I deny ever having used witchcraft, superstitious works, or divination's. As to

allowing myself to be adored, if any kissed my hands and my garments, it was not my doing or by my wish; I sought to protect myself from it, and to prevent it as much as in me lay. And as for the rest of the Article, I deny it."

Relevance of History

It may seem a strange principle to enunciate as the very first requirement in a Hospital that it should do the sick no harm. F.N. [1859]

Jeanne d’Arc

Joan of Arc

Jeanne d’Arc

Witches now…

Malleus Maleficarum“The Witches Hammer”

All wickedness is but little to the wickedness of a woman. ... What else is woman but a foe to friendship, an unescapable punishment, a necessary evil, a natural temptation, a desirable calamity, domestic danger, a delectable detriment, an evil nature, painted with fair colours. ... Women are by nature instruments of Satan -- they are by nature carnal, a structural defect rooted in the original creation." Malleus maleficarum (The Hammer of Witches), 1485-86. “

Malleus Maleficarum“The Witches Hammer”

Finally…

• Writing conclusions, interpretations, and presenting supporting evidence.

• Defend your ideas!

Data Analysis and Report

• Interpretation of meaning• Use of extensive and diverse examples• Critical description of evidence• What wasn’t found• Historical significance to present• Creative narratives• Leave a trail of evidence• Include all detailed sources• What’s next?

Sampling

• The mere existence of data screams meaning!

• Locate every relevant documentary source..and then some

• Selection of data based on purpose of research.

• Lost, found, lost again, or never saw the light of day!

• Possible distortion and destruction of data

Assume little to nothing…

• Knowledge…and being literate…was and is power!

• Church and government documents

• Young girls and their diaries

• Surviving art versus closet art

Consider these…

• Art work of Holocaust victims• Diary of Anne Frank• Trials of witches in Europe• Joan of Arc

Translation of translations…and what humans leave behind

• Recognize major disadvantage…researcher cannot compare their own experiences or culture to historical study.

YOU WERE NOT THERE no matter how much you see, hear or read!

Conceptual ideas, themes, critical person in historical context

• History of reproductive rights• Margaret Singer, founder of

Planned Parenthood• Control of family size in medieval

Greece

Future trends in historical research..what is there is nothing to study?

• Temporality of internet• Technology, texting, email…• Speeches• Social Networks• Letter writing…what is that?• Storytelling

History is written by the winners.-George Orwell

Did it really happen that way?