Primary SourcesIdentifying

LocatingStudying

Presented by Elizabeth Tousignant for TRITEC

What is a Primary Source?

A primary source is a document or physical object which was written or created during the time under study. These sources were present during an experience or time period and offer an inside view of a particular event. Some types of primary sources include:

ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS (excerpts or translations acceptable): Diaries, speeches, manuscripts, letters, interviews, news film footage, autobiographies, official records

CREATIVE WORKS: Poetry, drama, novels, music, art

RELICS OR ARTIFACTS: Pottery, furniture, clothing, buildings

http://www.princeton.edu/~refdesk/primary2.html

Examples of primary sources include:

•Diary of Anne Frank - Experiences of a Jewish family during WWII

•The Constitution of Canada - Canadian History

•A journal article reporting NEW research or findings •Weavings and pottery - Native American history

•Plato's Republic - Women in Ancient Greece

What is a Secondary Source?

A secondary source interprets and analyzes primary sources. These sources are one or more steps removed from the event.

Secondary sources may have pictures, quotes or graphics of primary sources in them. Some types of secondary sources include: PUBLICATIONS: Textbooks, magazine articles, histories, criticisms, commentaries, encyclopedias

Examples of secondary sources include:

A journal/magazine article which interprets or reviews previous findings

A history textbook A book about the effects of WWI

http://www.archive.org/stream/letteredicristof00colurich#page/n5/mode/2up

Is this a Primary Source?

Online Sources

Consult major collections of primary sources .The following reputable sites link to thousands of primary sources: American Memory: Historical Collections for the National Digital Library http://memory.loc.gov/

Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/avalon.htm

EuroDocs: Western European Primary Historical Documents http://eudocs.lib.byu.edu/

Gallica: Digital Library of the National Library of France http://gallica.bnf.fr Making of America: 19th c. books and magazines http://moa.umdl.umich.edu

http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/rusa/sections/history/resources/pubs/usingprimarysources/index.cfm

Finding Primary Sources on the Web

               

BPL department guideMicrotextNewspapers Advertisements

Government DocumentsCensus data and demographics, voting lists and districts, electionsLegislation Passenger lists, ships logs

General Reference/HumanitiesLetters DiariesJournals Poems

Prints and Fine ArtsPhotographsPaintings Drawings (including cartoons)

BPL (cont’d)

Social SciencesPolitical manifestos

Kirstein Business Library and Government DocumentsSalary Information Rare Books and Manuscripts will also have many items, depending on topic and time period bpl.orgThe best approach is to start using the BPL electronic databases and catalog, e.g., BPL at the Internet Archive, Archive of Americana, Leventhal Map Collection.

And, of course, the best resource is working with BPL librarians in each department.

Other Sources

http://becomingamerica.wikispaces.com/primarysources

NARA Walthamhttp://www.archives.gov/northeast/boston/education/educators.html

Citing Sources

It is important to provide complete information about your primary source whether found in a printed source or online. The basic elements to include in a citation for a published print source are:

•author of the document •title of the document•title of the book if different from the document •name of editor or author of the book •place of publication •publisher•year•page numbers

Also, as a condition of their licensing agreement, some organizations require a credit line for the posted image .

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/12/http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/rusa/sections/history/resources/pubs/usingprimarysources/index.cfmhttp://www.americanantiquarian.org/license.pdf

Justice in the New England ColoniesWhat is Justice? What is Injustice?

these materials for educational purposes only.

The Bloudy Tenent of PersecutionRare Book and Special Collections Division,Library of Congress (19)

Document Based Questions

http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/worksheets/written_document_analysis_worksheet.pdf

email Elizabeth:

etousignant@medford.k12.ma.us