3. Applied History

• (a) Delhi
• (b) Harappa
• ✓ (c) Ur
• (d) Kolkata

Answer: The earliest museum in the world was discovered in the excavations at the city of Ur.

• ✓ (a) New Delhi
• (b) Kolkata
• (c) Mumbai
• (d) Chennai

Answer: The National Archives of India is in New Delhi.

Wrong pair: (2) Ramman — Dance form in West Bengal

• ‘Applied History’ is also known as ‘Public History’.
• It is a field of study concerned with the application of history for the benefit of people in the contemporary and future times.
• Knowledge of history is useful as it can provide guidance in finding solutions to contemporary social issues and incorporate them in the social planning.
• Applied history is concerned with the preservation and conservation of our heritage and making it accessible to people, while also creating opportunities for employment.
• In brief, applied history can be described as the understanding of our present with the help of history and finding the right direction for the benefit of our future.

• Archives are places where old documents, official records, old films, and historical materials are preserved and stored for reference.
• They play a crucial role in maintaining authentic records of the past, which serves as primary material for historical research.
• The National Archives of India is located in New Delhi, and every state in India maintains its archives independently.
• There are also archives with distinct purposes, such as the National Film Archives of India in Pune, which searches, obtains, and preserves rare Indian films for future generations.

• The history of technology helps in understanding the changes and their causes in the fields of agricultural production, commodity production, architecture, and engineering.
• Scientific discoveries/inventions and technological advancement are mutually dependent on each other.
• Knowledge of science and technology was incredibly important at every step, right from the making of stone tools to agricultural production in the evolution of mankind.
• Later, the advancement of science promoted the mechanisation of production.
• Therefore, it is necessary to know the history of technology in order to understand the development of mechanisation and the mutual dependence between science and technology.

• The visible and invisible relics of the past exist in the present, and it is our cultural and natural heritage. It helps in building our identity.
• It is essential for the benefit of future generations to preserve and conserve this heritage.
• UNESCO, the global organisation, has announced some directives with the objective of promoting the cultural and natural heritage worldwide.
• On the basis of those directives, a list of sites and traditions that possess outstanding universal value are declared as ‘World Heritage’ by UNESCO.

The method of history is highly valuable across various disciplines. The direction of future development in every field is dependent on the state of available knowledge.

• (a) Science: The history of science helps in understanding the chronological order of scientific discoveries, inventions, and theories. It helps us to understand the cause-effect chain that led to those discoveries, recognizing that human need and curiosity often drive scientific advancement.
• (b) Arts: It is important to understand the development of various art forms with the help of their style of expression and their foundation in intellectual-emotional-cultural traditions. A study of cultural history reveals the key expressions in any art form, the emotional temperament of the artist, and the developmental stages of the art.
• (c) Management Studies: To manage production chains, human resources, and market networks efficiently, knowledge of past functional systems is essential. History helps to understand the psychological character of people working at various levels in the chain of production and marketing, as well as the past social and economic institutions that supported them.

Applied history is deeply connected to our present life in the following ways:

• Linking with Ancestry: The visible and invisible relics of the past (our cultural and natural heritage) exist in our present. They represent the creative thoughts and traditions of our ancestors. History helps us trace our roots and links us with our origins.
• Building Identity: Heritage helps in building our identity. We naturally harbor curiosity and an attraction towards these relics because they define who we are as a society.
• Heritage Conservation: Applied history is directly concerned with the preservation and conservation of this heritage so it is accessible to people today and saved for future generations.
• Employment Generation: Managing heritage sites and historical projects creates numerous opportunities for employment in tourism, museums, archives, hospitality, and specialized fields like archaeology and conservation.
• In short, applied history gives us an understanding of our present by looking at the past, guiding us to make decisions that benefit our future.

Heritage projects fulfill several crucial objectives:

1. They ensure the operations necessary for the conservation, preservation, and development of a heritage site are handled without causing any change in its original state.
2. They allow for detailed surveys of the local social structure, the psychology of the local people, the challenges they face, and their current expectations.
3. They ensure due precautions are taken to avoid hurting the sentiments of the local people while completing the conservation projects.
4. They facilitate the active participation of local people in the project.
5. They help design systematic plans to employ local skills in a creative way, thereby creating better opportunities for livelihood for the residents.