Even the fuel for our lighter changes history

Ruth Goodman at St Georges LT

RUTH Goodman, freelance historian and TV presenter was hosted by Sheffield University and talked about social history in terms of heritage, feedback and interpretation. Do little things change the world?


We have culturally been trained to believe people who give formal lectures about history. We read many books whether we understand the content or not. We see TV programmes. We transfer stuff face-to-face. Finally, which is the best way to learn history?

Ways of acquiring history and context

Mrs Goodman says that the ideal way of learning history is the combination of taking heritage into consideration, exchanging feedback and interpreting the past by sharing it with other people. History is not just observing. It would be boring if it was just observing.

Context is also very important. You have to fit things in the picture of the past, which is not easy. ''Context is everything. Whenever you create a piece of history put it in context'', as Mrs Goodman pointed out. Moreover, context gives you the background needed to ask yourself whether or not you are interested in this. ''You're interested in something when it's more relevant'', she said.

Little things change history


Things that we do at home, at work, with our friends, our partners have impact on the world. ''These little things contribute to the big history and they turn out to be really important'', Mrs Goodman said.

Even the fuel we use for our lighter can change history. This is how our world works. This little thing will bring something - a revolution, an innovation - and and this 'something' may bring something else.

Mrs Goodman concluded: ''Everything changes, nothing stays for ever. We can change it, we are powerful''.