View
243
Download
2
Tags:
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Introduction to Primary Sources
Definitions and Examples
Secondary Sources Accounts written after
the fact by scholars. Interpretations of history based on an analysis of primary sources.
Formats: Books Journal articles Dissertations Conference reports
Primary Sources: Definitions “is material -- a document or other
evidence -- that was created during the period or the event”
“historical raw materials” “the leavings, the shards, the remnants of
people who once lived and don't live anymore”
Historians & Primary Sources Primary sources are the evidence used by
historians in their analysis/interpretation of the past.
Good history books and scholarly journal articles (secondary sources) carefully cite the evidence in footnotes.
Primary sources help us make personal connections with the past.
Written primary sources
Public/published Newspapers Magazines Books
Written during time Written later by
participants (memoirs)
Government reports
Written primary sources
Private Letters Diaries
Can later be published in book, microfilm, web formats
Unpublished material found in manuscript archives
Unwritten primary sources Graphics
photographs posters art maps
Artifacts buildings furniture Coins clothing tombstones
Analysis of primary sources
Time and Place Rule The closer in time and place a source and its
creator are to an event, the better the source Direct traces contemporary accounts by
firsthand observers/participants accounts of the events created later by first hand observers/participants
Congressional debate newspaper accounts of the debate/diary entries by participants/letters of observers memoirs of participants published years later
Analysis of primary sources Bias Rule
Every source is biased in some way Evidence must be read or viewed skeptically and
critically Creator’s point of view and motives must be
considered Each piece of evidence must be compared with other
evidence
Primary Sources in the UW Libraries
Books, magazines and microfilm
Formats in the UW Libraries Books
Published primary sources Books published during the time
Magazines, Journals and Newspapers Microfilm
Copies of published books Runs of old newspapers and magazines Collections of unpublished material
(manuscripts)
Finding Books Search for books written by key people Search for books published during the time period Keyword search for books that include the special
subject headings: sources, personal narratives, diaries, correspondence,
registers, interviews Women and employment and interviews african americans and personal narratives immigrants and (diaries or correspondence) and
united
Finding Articles Use fulltext databases (if available)
American Periodical Series Online Historical New York Times
Use indexes (if available) 19th Century Masterfile Reader’s Guide Retrospective
Follow footnotes in secondary sources If looking for primary sources on an event,
browse newspapers for that time period
Microfilm Sets Collections of published materials
History of Women Early English Books
Collections of manuscript material Records of the National Association of Colored Women's
Clubs, 1895-1992 D.W. Griffith Papers, 1897-1954 The Will Hays Papers, 1879-1954 Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service
pt. 1. Asian immigration and exclusion, 1906-1913
Language Over Time Important to realize changes in words over time
when using historical indexes. Negro – Afro-Americans – Blacks – African Americans Moving Pictures – Motion Pictures – Film Belgian Congo – Zaire – Democratic Republic of the
Congo European War – World War – World War I