Auxiliary sciences of history

Auxiliary (or ancillary) sciences of history are scholarly disciplines which help evaluate and use historical sources and are seen as auxiliary for historical research.^[1]^{[page needed]} Many of these areas of study, classification and analysis were originally developed between the 16th and 19th centuries by antiquaries, and would then have been regarded as falling under the broad heading of antiquarianism.^[2] "History" was at that time regarded as a largely literary skill. However, with the spread of the principles of empirical source-based history championed by the Göttingen school of history in the late 18th century^[3] and later by Leopold von Ranke from the mid-19th century onwards, they have been increasingly regarded as falling within the skill-set of the trained historian.^[4]^[5]

Examples

Auxiliary sciences of history include, but are not limited to:^[1]

Archaeology, the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture
Archaeography, the study of ancient (historical) documents (antique writings)
Archival science, the study and theory of creating and maintaining archives
Chorography, the study of regions and places
Chronology, the study of the sequence of past events
Cliometrics, the systematic application of economic theory, econometric techniques, and other formal or mathematical methods to the study of history
Codicology, the study of books as physical objects
Diplomatics, the study and textual analysis of historical documents
Encyclopaedistics, the study of encyclopaedias as sources of encyclopaedic knowledge
Epigraphy, the study of ancient inscriptions
Genealogy, the study of family relationships
Heraldry, the study of armorial devices
Numismatics, the study of coins
Onomastics, the study of proper names
Palaeography, the study of old handwriting
Paleoanthropology, the study of human evolution and ecology through the fossil record
Phaleristics, the study of military orders, fraternities, and award items
Philately, the study of postage stamps
Philology, the study of the language of historical sources
Prosopography, the investigation of a historical group of individuals through a collective study of their lives
Sigillography (or sphragistics), the study of seals
Toponymy, the study of place names
Vexillology, the study of flags

References

^ ^a ^b Drake, Miriam A. (2003). Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science. Dekker Encyclopedias Series. Vol. 3. CRC Press. ISBN 0-8247-2079-2.^{[page needed]}
^ Sweet, Rosemary (2004). Antiquaries: the discovery of the past in eighteenth-century Britain. London: Hambledon & London. p. xiv. ISBN 1-85285-309-3.
^ Ranke, Leopold von (2011). Iggers, Georg G. (ed.). The Theory and Practice of History. Abingdon: Routledge. p. xix. ISBN 978-0-415-78032-2.
^ Green, Anna; Troup, Kathleen, eds. (1999). The Houses of History: A Critical Reader in Twentieth-Century History and Theory. Manchester University Press. p. 2. ISBN 978-0-7190-5255-2.
^ Stern, Fritz, ed. (1972). The Varieties of History: From Voltaire to the Present (2nd ed.). New York: Vintage Books. p. 54. ISBN 0-394-71962-X.