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Hidden Treasures: Challenging Traps of Historical Sources for Environmental History

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Environmental History in the Making

Part of the book series: Environmental History ((ENVHIS,volume 6))

Abstract

Traditional archive sources relating to environmental history are of fundamental importance not only for historians. They are and should be also used by climatologists, physical geographers, and other natural scientists. Notwithstanding these sources are very rich and sometimes easily accessible, they are usually underestimated or considered unreliable especially compared to “hard data” e.g. palynological analyses etc.

Based on several very concrete examples from Central Europe, obviously having far more general validity, the article shows major advantages and weaknesses of using archive (mostly written and pictorial) sources from early modern period in environmental historical research. E. g. weather records provided in the 18th century by the Moravian Brethren served as an important source of various analyses of climate changes in the Arctic, records of the guild of Prague fish merchants provided crucial information about European trade with Baltic fish since the 17th century, economic data from municipal and manorial books of accounts helped to reconstruct climate changes in the Central Europe from the 16th century onwards etc.

The case studies were chosen with the intent to show (1) how the archive sources may improve and so far correct current research projects, (2) demonstrate those approaches in environmental history, which are based on excellent usage of them and finally (3) discuss more generally some “traps” of written sources and current misunderstandings between historians and archivist on the one side and natural scientists on the other.

The aim of the paper is to show and explain further potential of archive findings and their interpretation. The article focuses on general characteristics of written sources related to the history of climate, landscape perception, and landscape transformation and management. It also challenges the traditional approach to environmental history sources since, in the authors’s view, environmental history should take into account various historical concepts of archive keeping and the selection of sources that was implemented by their authors and providers. Within this particular framework, the paper shall focus on the role of modernity, science, and ideology. Finally the paper highlights several crucial epistemological and discoursive differences between historians and natural scientists and their approaches to the written sources, which should be overcome in order to achieve more sophisticated collaboration on the field of environmental history.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Acta publica: http://actapublikca.eu. Accessed 26 December 2014.

  2. 2.

    Monasterium. International centre for archival research/ICARUS: http://icar-us.eu/cooperation/online-portals/monasterium-net. Accessed 26 December 2014.

  3. 3.

    Archive groups in the Czech Republic. Http://aplikace.mvcr.cz/archivni-fondy-cr/default.aspx. Accessed 26 December 2014.

  4. 4.

    Archiv Národního muzea (Archive of the National Museum), Manuscript Nr. 288.

  5. 5.

    Archiv hlavního města Prahy (Prague City Archives), Manuscript Nr. 7962.

  6. 6.

    Archiv hlavního města Prahy (Prague City Archives), Registra hlavní příjmů a vydání Nového Města pražského 1667–1723 (Manuscripts Nr. 2290a–2349) and Registra počtů hlavních Nového Města pražského 1754–1759 (Manuscripts Nr. 2350–2385).

  7. 7.

    For example Environmentální dějiny. Webová stránka pro českou a slovenskou komunitu environmentálních historiček a historiků: http://environmentalni-dejiny.org/. Accessed 26 December 2014.

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Acknowledgment

This study was written within the Programme for the Development of Fields of Study at Charles University, No P12 History in the Interdisciplinary Perspective, sub-programme Fontes. Sources on Czech History.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic

    Klára Woitschová

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  1. Klára Woitschová
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Correspondence to Klára Woitschová .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Escola de Ciências, Universidade do Minho, Braga, Portugal

    Estelita Vaz

  2. IHC, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal

    Cristina Joanaz de Melo

  3. Universidade do Minho, NIMA, Esola de Economia e Gestao, Braga, Portugal

    Lígia M. Costa Pinto

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Woitschová, K. (2017). Hidden Treasures: Challenging Traps of Historical Sources for Environmental History. In: Vaz, E., Joanaz de Melo, C., Costa Pinto, L. (eds) Environmental History in the Making. Environmental History, vol 6. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41085-2_7

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