Paul Wynants – Writing the history of a religious teaching institute: guidelines for research, sources and methods (19th and 20th Centuries)

In the framework of such a short introduction, I would like to recall some basic principles, obvious enough to most specialists.

The first half of my presentation will be historiographical: by tracing the way in which a congregation’s past has been perceived over the course of time, I will point out themes for research that seem of interest to me.

The second part will consider sources and their critical use, in the framework of a monograph centered on one or more educational institution. Without pretending to exhaust the subject, I will try to present some of the concrete problems that historians confront regularly in such a field.

Contents:

• 1. Some Basic Principles
• 2. Historiographical Perception and Research Themes
  • A. Hagiography
  • B. The Sociology of Religion and “Socio-history”
  • C. The History of Daily Life
• 3. The Sources
  • A. Congregational Archives
  • B. Chancery Archives
  • C. Parish Archives
  • D. Archives of the Civil Authorities
  • E. Some Other Sources

Reference time period: 1800 – 1995

Reference institution:
Institute of Salesian Studies