Hard Work

After reading many of the assignments that we have had to read the last few months, I have to say that historians have an incredibly hard job. When you read all of the details that are included in many of the books we have been assigned, you realize the difficult job they have in authenticating information, especially if the information is included in a journal or autobiography. The use of primary sources is critical (and much easier) for historians to use to validate facts.  They also must rule out bias as they look at events in our past. I do have a greater admiration for historians and archivists after reading many of our assignments.

Biography Assignment

            It was certainly an eye opener reading both The Shoemaker and the Tea Party and The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin.  I have always been a fan of biographies. I love to read accounts of someone’s personal experiences. I also find that my fifth grade students adore reading about the lives of famous people in history. My students have loved reading stories about Rosa Parks, Roberto Clemente , and Benjamin Franklin’s lives. The thing that I have been enlightened about the use of biographies and autobiographies! The issue of using that book as your sole “window” of looking at a period in history is a big one. The bias or limited memories of the author can make this view of a historical period inaccurate or limited to say the least.

            I truly had never heard of George Robert Twelves Hewes.  The portion that I did read was an interesting window into the time period in which he lived. However, the fact that the story is the faded memories of an elderly man makes one skeptical about the authenticity of using an autobiography as a history book. Readers and historians need to use a variety of sources (especially primary sources) to authenticate the details written in these type of books.

            I struggled to read the book The Autobiography of Ben Franklin. It was not the fact that his day to day recounting of his early life was not interesting.  The part that I struggled with was the 18^th century language. I consider myself to be a person who has a pretty decent vocabulary, but I could not get past the questions about what certain words and phrases meant.  It made me sympathize with my fifth grade students when they are asked to read difficult material and cannot clarify words by using context clues! I finally discovered the book was on my daughter’s Kindle, and I was able to use the tool on the Kindle that clarifies words in a story. WHEW! I could actually figure out some of the unique vocabulary.

            I continue to be a huge admirer of Benjamin, because he was a visionary in so many ways. It was interesting to read about the back story of many of his  contributions to life in Philadelphia and the colonies. I also learned about the club  the Junto, which was quite incredible for it’s time period. I also greatly admire his wife, who was quite a tolerant person.She raised William’s son who was not her own,  and certainly knew of his “lady friends” before they were married. She also was quite tolerant of his trips abroad as he pursued his civic and scientific interests.