What is a primary source?Historians use the term “primary source” to describe a piece of historical evidence such as an artifact, photograph, newspaper article, book, or letter originally created during the era you are researching. Abraham Lincoln’s is a primary source, as are the uniforms Union and Confederate soldiers wore while listening to him speak on November 19, 1863. Portraits made of Lincoln while he was in the White House are examples of visual primary sources. Historical participants also create primary sources after a historical event or period takes place in the form of memoirs such as Civil Rights activist Anne Moody’s autobiography, Coming of Age in Mississippi. Primary sources are first-hand accounts from history. Show Primary sources are valuable to historians because they give insight into the ways in which historical figures understood or internalized what they experienced, their place or significance in history, and give historians an understanding of historical figures’ opinions. Primary sources created by institutions, such as a census or survey, can help document basic statistics concerning an era. Primary sources are clues from the past. Primary sources can be resultant from an historical subject writing for private use, such as the diary of Martha Ballard, a midwife from Hallowell, Maine, who kept a journal from 1785 to 1812. Historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich analyzed Ballard’s private diary in the early 1990s and made crucial arguments about the daily private lives of women in the Early Republic, earning Ulrich the Pulitzer Prize for History. Other primary sources result from the intent to publish, such as Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which actively tried to reach a large audience to garner support for abolitionism. Primary sources can also be published as transcriptions of other primary sources, such as a collection of the speeches given by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Primary sources in different media from the same historical event can be used in conjunction. For example, if a student was writing about the John F. Kennedy assassination, she could compare newspaper articles and coverage from different cities across the country to determine a sequence of events while showing the diversity of opinion on the assassination in 1963. She could analyze footage filmed during the parade route in Dallas, along with Walter Cronkite’s television broadcast during the announcement of the President’s death to portray how one recognizable American visually experienced the news. This same television footage could also be used to discuss how American’s consumption of new forms of technology changed the way they received news about the Kennedy’s death compared to Americans who relied on newspapers and radio. The student could read the Warren Commission, condolence letters sent to Jacqueline Kennedy, or listen to oral histories from everyday Americans in order to create the fullest account of what took place and the ways in which Kennedy and his death was historically significant.
What is a secondary source?A secondary source typically utilizes multiple primary sources to piece together the chronology, events, or experiences of something that took place in history in order to make a scholarly argument. Secondary sources are analytical examinations of primary sources produced by people who were not involved with nor experienced the historical era, event, or person studied. Historians write secondary sources about history. What should students look for while researching primary sources?There are eight critical thinking elements students should consider when searching for primary sources. They do not need to locate all eight in every document that they read, but they should be aware of them:
Basic rules for historians
How to begin research for free using reputable online sourcesBefore heading to the library, try a few searches online.
What best describes a historical interpretation?Historical interpretation is the process by which we describe, analyze, evaluate, and create an explanation of past events. We base our interpretation on primary [firsthand] and secondary [scholarly] historical sources. We analyze the evidence, contexts, points of view, and frames of reference.
Why is it important to consider historical evidence?Historical sources can be used as evidence to back up your claims of what the past was like. They allow you to say that something happened, whether it's a battle or the existence of a famous figure. You can then use them to create your own interpretations of the finer details.
What is the important of sources in history?Primary sources fascinate students because they are real and they are personal; history is humanized through them. Using original sources, students touch the lives of the people about whom history is written. They participate in human emotions and in the values and attitudes of the past.
How do historians use evidence to learn about the past?1. Historians check the evidence in primary sources and compare it to sources that have already been determined to be “trustworthy”. 2. Then, they look at secondary sources that express different points of view to get a clear idea of what happened.
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