The Historian and his Sources. Problems and Methods of Historical Research

La Higher School of Historical Studies of the University of the Republic of San Marino organizes the international conference The Historian and His Sources. Problems and Methods of Historical Research, which will be held at the University's Department of History and Law on 26 and 27 September 2025.

The meeting aims to promote discussion among young scholars in historical disciplines (PhD students and PhDs who obtained their degree no earlier than the 2018/2019 academic year).
Already starting from the first methodological lines of historiography as we still understand and practice it today, the Athenian Thucydides, placing himself in open opposition to his predecessors and contemporaries, identifies the founding nucleus of historical narration in the sources and in their good use.

History is traditionally identified with the reconstruction and interpretation of the past based on documents, testimonies and finds. History is based on two cardinal principles, inseparable from each other and in continuous interaction: the scholar and the sources, of various nature and typology, which contribute to reconstructing more or less distant eras. Sources have always been the foundation of the methods and problems of research, which today is affected by profound transformations: if, on the one hand, traditional sources, such as archival, archaeological and iconographic ones, continue to be the heart of historical research, on the other hand, digitalization, the growing importance of immaterial sources and the proliferation of new typologies 2 of documentation pose new epistemological, methodological and ethical challenges.

With the aim of contributing to the promotion of critical, conscious and innovative research, the international conference in San Marino intends to collect and stimulate the reflections of PhD students and PhDs who address the topic from different disciplinary perspectives and with a broad view, from the ancient to the contemporary historiographical panorama. The methodological contributions will address the issues, raised by the most ancient historiographical traditions, related to the interpretation and comparison between sources, their retrieval, analysis techniques, the value and limits of each documentary typology.
At the same time, the conference intends to address the ethical and political implications, which have always existed, inherent in the use of sources: starting from the consideration that, in every era, they have been manipulated and distorted for ideological purposes, it is essential to ask how the historian can maintain a critical approach towards the data at his disposal. The use of digital sources, for example, raises questions about their perishability, accessibility and reliability, but also about their potential for manipulation, as in the case of the spread of fake news.

The conference will also explore the potential offered by new technologies, which provide new tools for the analysis, preservation and visualization of historical sources, starting from the developments in digital humanities. Finally, it intends to reflect on the dialogue between history and other disciplines, such as social sciences, philology, archaeology, neuroscience and natural sciences, which contribute to the understanding of sources and historical reality from new perspectives.