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What do we mean when we talk about historical significance?
Typically, when we describe something as being significant, we mean to say that it is important for a specific reason. As we learned in the previous pages in this module, history is a subjective pursuit. Historical sources, whether primary or secondary, cannot speak for themselves. The people who wrote them or who find them and read them tend to interpret historical sources through their personal lenses based on personal beliefs and experiences.
Because that is the case, establishing historical significance is a crucial step in studying the past. Researchers and students must determine the most important developments, trends, actions, and/or events in order to uncover the most complete story of what happened in any given historical moment. Yet, deciding which elements of the past are historically significant is not as straightforward as it might seem.
Read the information located on this Historical Thinking website about Historical Significance. Pay special attention to the last sentence, and think about why saying "it's significant because it's in the textbook," or "it's significant because I'm interested in it" are NOT sufficient explanations of historical significance.
This blog post uses the example of recent DNA tests that prove President Warren Harding fathered a child with his mistress to explore the question of whether that new information is actually historically significant. Read the blog post and think about the case that author L.D. Burnett makes to discuss historical significance, or the lack thereof. According to Burnett, how can we tell if something is historically significant?
Finally, the video clip below will provide another take on historical significance. What do you think about the example provided in the clip? How does the narrator establish the significance of Ukrainian internment camps in Canada in World War I?
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