Abstract:
A person's importance as an object of historical study is often determined not just by his own personal achievement but also by the links and influences, discovered by the investigations, insight and even ingenuity of the historian, which relate him to other persons and phenomena of historical interest. A person can be historically significant not because of who he was but because of what he was, for instance, as the representative of some group. He can also be significant because of some principle he illustrates, or because of some enduring problem that arises, even on a small scale, from his activity or thought.
