As students use these sources, they realize that history exists through interpretation--and tentative interpretation at that. 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. By reading a series of public opinion surveys from World War II, for example, students confront the language of the person interviewed and his or her fears about shortages, as well as the interviewer's reactions recorded after the interview.
These human expressions provide history with color and excitement and link students directly to its cast of characters. Interpreting historical sources helps students to analyze and evaluate contemporary sources--newspaper reports, television and radio programs, and advertising. By using primary sources, students learn to recognize how a point of view and a bias affect evidence, what contradictions and other limitations exist within a given source, and to what extent sources are reliable.
Essential among these skills is the ability to understand and make appropriate use of many sources of information. Development of these skills is important not only to historical research but also to a citizenship where people are able to evaluate the information needed to maintain a free society. Perhaps best of all, by using primary sources, students will participate in the process of history.
They will debate with teachers and classmates about the interpretation of the sources. They will challenge others' conclusions and seek out evidence to support their own.
The classroom will become a lively arena in which students test and apply important analytical skills. To introduce your students to primary sources, you might begin with materials that they themselves possess, such as birth certificates, social security cards, passports, or drivers' licenses. What do these sources tell us about the individuals and the society in which they live?
How might these sources be used by historians? Definition A primary source is a document or record containing firsthand information or original data on an event, object, person, or work of art. Why are primary sources important? Primary sources give us a unique insight into the past.
Individual Significance We can better understand how events influenced people's feelings and how they thought about them at the time. Causes and Consequences of Events By studying primary sources, historians can get a more detailed understanding of what caused an event and the consequences of that event.
The discovery of new primary sources can add dimensions to history that previously were unknown. Asking the Right Questions Here are some questions you can ask when you are ready to study your primary source document.
Basic Questions: What is it? Who made it? When was it made? How was it made? Where was it made? Who is the intended audience or user? Where does this document fit in with the others? Significance : What is the historical significance of this primary source?
How does it help you gain a better understanding of the larger historical significance of the person or event you are researching? In short: why does this document matter? Why should we care? Basic rules for historians Respect your subject : When writing about a person from the past, you are developing a unique bond with them.
Like a scientist in a lab, when you read or handle historical primary sources in an archive, you may discover elements of the past currently unknown to others. Do not generalize: Remember that individuals with a wide range of opinions and experiences form groups, organizations, and movements, so when you proofread, make sure you are not making wide-ranging generalizations without evidence to support your claim. For example, not every white person in the antebellum South owned slaves and not every woman in the colonial era experienced oppression.
Avoid anachronisms: An anachronistic statement is one in which an idea, event, or person is referenced or represented in a way that is inconsistent with the historical period being researched. How to begin research for free using reputable online sources Before heading to the library, try a few searches online. Does Google Books have any secondary sources about your topic? If so, can you read the entire text online? If not, write down the titles so you can look at them in the library or order them online.
Look at both the bibliography and the footnotes for source documents. Do any of the referenced primary sources look interesting or useful? If so, the citation will tell you where that primary source is located for example, a book on the Berlin Wall might reference a piece of the wall housed at the Smithsonian. Citations help you track down primary sources so you can view them and analyze them for yourself. Although you might not live near the sources, librarians and curators can often send you digital images or e-mail you scanned copies of documents.
If you are enrolled in a university, many colleges also participate in inter-library loan programs. In these programs, theUniversityofWisconsinmight be temporarily loan a book to a student at theUniversityofMichigan.
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