• It's typically a written narrative, but oral histories, photos, and films are now part of it.
• It includes a wide range from factual documents to lyrical, metaphorical, mythical, and artistic interpretations.

Example: Think of a time capsule! It can have photos, letters (written records), audio tapes (oral history), and even art pieces. All these items together make up a historical record of that time.

• Written language was preserved by a powerful and privileged minority.
• These people not only wrote history but also had an interest in reading it.
• This raises questions about whose perspectives were recorded and whose were ignored.

Example: In medieval Europe, literacy was mostly limited to the clergy and nobility. Hence, many historical accounts from this period reflect their views and experiences, possibly overlooking the lives of common people.

• Not all historical records survive. Those that do are "traces" floating through time.
• Historians must question the origins of these traces: Who wrote them? Who allowed them to reach us?
• However, the absence of traces is also important. Sometimes, historians have to imagine what might be missing and why.
• This process is critiqued by post-modernists as it relies on subjective interpretations.

Example: Consider the lost city of Atlantis. We don't have substantial historical traces, so we have to make educated guesses about its existence and culture.

• Gabrielle Spiegel argued that if documents don't reflect reality but only other texts, then history can't be differentiated from literature.
• To tackle this, historians are democratizing the discipline by inviting a multitude of perspectives, including non-written sources.

Example: Historians now take into account indigenous oral traditions, which used to be disregarded because they weren't "written" documents.