Auxiliary (or ancillary) sciences of history are scholarly disciplines which help evaluate and use historical sources and are seen as auxiliary for historical research. 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. "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 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.
Auxiliary sciences of history include, but are not limited to:
Archeology, the study of ancient and historic sites and artifactsArchival science, the study and theory of creating and maintaining archivesChorography, the study of regions and placesChronology, the study of the sequence of past eventsCliometrics, the systematic application of economic theory, econometric techniques, and other formal or mathematical methods to the study of historyCodicology, the study of books as physical objectsDiplomatics, the study and textual analysis of historical documentsEpigraphy, the study of ancient inscriptionsFaleristics, the study of military orders, decorations and medalsGenealogy, the study of family relationshipsHeraldry, the study of armorial devicesNumismatics, the study of coinsOnomastics, the study of proper namesPaleography, the study of old handwritingPhilately, the study of postage stampsPhilology, the study of the language of historical sourcesProsopography, the investigation of a historical group of individuals through a collective study of their livesSigillography, the study of sealsToponymy, the study of place-names