Abstract:
Historical thinking skills have become the mantra of the history profession.
The aims, objectives and outcomes of history classes and courses at both
secondary and tertiary level resonate with the inclusion of the skills of
the historian’s craft. Primary materials are among the tools included in
school teaching packs and university readers to inculcate the research
dimension of history coupled to analysis, selection, critical thinking, and
logical formulation. In this article we propose to reflect on a recently
developed component of a postgraduate Honours module introduced in
the Department of Historical and Heritage Studies at the University of
Pretoria in collaboration with the University archive. This element involved
students engaging with un-inventorised virgin primary documentation
emanating from the Museum of the Transvaal Education Department. They
were tasked with not only having to critically read the content of the “box”,
but to sort, appraise and contextualize the documentation. In addition,
the brief also required students to consider the research potential of the
contents and present their findings at a colloquium entitled “What’s in the
Box?” We argue that the success of this component of the course took the
students one step further in the making of history and thus exposed them to
experiential learning and what could be termed the “inner workings” of
the historians’ craft.
