Primary and Secondary Sources

1. Primary and Secondary Sources History Detectives

2. What do we use to learn about history? We use PRIMARY and SECONDARY SOURCES.

3. Primary Source – Any original materialfrom the period or event under consideration • Firsthand information or records of original ideas • Has not been analyzed, commented upon or interpreted • May be biased, inaccurate, or untruthful

4. Secondary Source – Material that is one or more steps removed from the period or event under consideration. • Offer commentary, interpretation, or analysis of Primary Sources • Often will contain Primary Sources • Created by people not directly involved in the period or event under consideration • Contain the benefit of hindsight

5. Which one is more important? Primary ? Secondary ?

6. It depends!

8. Wha? Why would they do that?

10. Primary or Secondary?

11. A painting of a pioneer family traveling over the Rocky Mountains

12. Soldier’s boots worn during the Civil War… Displayed in a museum exhibit.

13. A photograph of a President of the United States (POTUS)

17. A poem about poverty in Ireland.

18. A love letter from your Great Grandfather to your Great Grandmother

19. A school textbook

20. A text message.

21. A diary of a soldier in World War I

22. A magazine article reviewing the book “Origami Diary of a Wimpy Wizard’s Unfortunate Events.”

23. Primary SourcesSecondary Sources • Textbooks • Biographies • Lectures • General histories • Most journal articles • Most published books • Webpages • Photographs • Diaries • Military records • Census records • Autobiographies • Speeches • Video footage • Audio recordings • Newspaper clippings • Books written AT THAT TIME • Interviews • Letters • Scientific findings • Genuine Artifacts

24. Evaluating Sources NO SOURCE, NO MATTER WHAT IT IS, IS INHERENTLY RELIABLE! • You must analyze the source for yourself • You must determine how a source is biased • You must determine if a source is both accurate and truthful

25. Who was present at the signing of the Declaration of Independence? • Source 1: A Hollywood movie about the American Revolution made in 2001 • Source 2: A Book written by a famous historian who is an expert on the American Revolution, published in 1999. • IDEA:Authorshipmatters! Historians base their accounts on multiple primary and secondary sources. Hollywood films have no such standards for historical accuracy.

26. What was the layout of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz? • Source 1: Interview with an 80 year old Holocaust survivor in 1985 • Source 2: Map of Auschwitz found in Nazi archives • IDEA: Human memory is notoriously unreliable. We can be truthfulbut not accurate.

27. Why were Japanese Americans put into internment camps during WW2? • Source 1: A government film explaining the internment camps made in 1942 • Source 2: A government report on Japanese internment from 1983, based on declassified government documents. • IDEA: The purpose of a source has a direct impact on its credibility

28. What was slavery like in South Carolina? • Source 1: Interview with a former slave in 1936. The interviewer is an African American man collecting interviews for the Federal Writer’s Project. • Source 2: Interview with a former slave in 1936. The interviewer is an white woman collecting interviews for the Federal Writer’s Project. • IDEA: Our audience shapes how we tell stories.

29. Finish this sentence on your OUTPUT side: The PRIMARY source I think I would personally enjoy studying the most is:

30. Tuesday, August 13 Warm-Up In your own words, describe the difference between a primary and secondary source.