A GUIDE FOR ANALYZING

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YOU BE THE HISTORIAN!
A GUIDE FOR ANALYZING PRIMARY SOURCE DOCUMENTS
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PRIMARY SOURCE DOCUMENTS
What are they? Primary sources are original
documents and objects that provide first-hand
accounts of events that happened in the past.
These sources, accounts or interpretations of
events are usually by someone that has direct
personal knowledge of the event.
From the Our Documents Initiative http//www.ourd
ocuments.gov/doc.php?flashtruedoc9
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• Why use primary sources?
• They provide the opportunity to look into
• the past and gain an understanding about what
  took
• place according to the people who lived it.
• They provide the opportunity for students to
• develop higher-order thinking, better critical
• thinking and analysis skills.
• They provide the opportunity for students to
• make connections between their knowledge and
• experiences.

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• Where do I find primary source documents?
• Click on the links below to begin your search.
• Library of Congress American Memory Project
• American Treasures of the Library of Congress
• United States Historical Documents ( Univ. of
  Oklahoma)
• Duke University Rare Book, Manuscript and
  Special Collections
• Library
• Documenting the American South
• Learn NC
• Remember A primary source could also be your
  diary, journal, or a photograph of you!

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SECONDARY SOURCES
What are they? Secondary sources are not
original sources or documents. They were created
later by someone who did not experience an
account first-hand. The information has been
reported, analyzed, or interpreted by some one
else. Look for sources that were most recently
published .
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(No Transcript)
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ANALYZING PRIMARY SOURCE DOCUMENTS
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• Taking a Closer Look at
• Primary Source Documents
• Identify the source.
• Is it a newspaper, a letter, a diary, a
  photograph, etc.?
• Who created the source?
• When and where was the source created?

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• Contextualize the source.
• What was going on during the place and time this
  source was created?
• How does the person who created the document fit
  into the historical context?
• Who is the intended audience?

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• Explore the source.
• Is the factual information correct?
• Does the source contain one persons opinion?
• What inferences do you need to make about
  meanings that are not spelled out?
• What do you find interesting or surprising about
  the source?
• What parts are unclear to me?

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• Analyze the source.
• What is the authors tone? Did he/she use humor,
  sarcasm, guilt, logical arguments, etc.?
• Does the content agree with what you know or have
  learned about the source or issue?
• Are the ideas and perspectives portrayed by this
  source accepted by others or would others
  disagree with this account?

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• Evaluate the source.
• Are there other sources you have read like this
  one or is the account in this source dramatically
  different?
• Consider the reasons why this source may be
  different
• from other sources.
• How does this source compare to what your
  textbook says or what other historians have
  written?
• Based on the evidence you have looked at from
  this
• source, what do you believe to be credible or
  true?
• What am I still wondering about concerning this
  source?
• Are there any gaps in my understanding of the
  source?

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TYPES OF PRIMARY SOURCES
PUBLISHED DOCUMENTS
Some primary sources are published documents that
were created for large audiences and were widely
distributed. These include books, magazines,
newspapers, government documents, non-government
reports, literature of all kinds, advertisements,
maps, pamphlets, posters, laws, and court
decisions. Advertising Ephemera Collection
Database A0294 Emergence of Advertising in
America On-line project John W. Hartman Center
for Sales, Advertising Marketing History Duke
University Rare Book, Manuscript and Special
Collection Library, 2000. Part of American
memory at the Library of Congress. http//scriptor
ium.lib.duke.edu/eaa/ephemera/A02/A0294/A0294-72dp
i.html
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UNPUBLISHED DOCUMENTS
Unpublished documents that have been saved can be
used as primary sources. These include personal
letters, diaries, journals, wills, deeds,
documents containing family histories, school
report cards and other sources. Unpublished
documents can sometimes be difficult to find
because only one or a few copies may exist.
Remember unpublished documents most of the time
were not intended to be read or seen by the
public that is why they can provide a very
interesting glimpse into the past.
Letter from Matthew Brady to President Abraham
Lincoln, asking Lincoln to sit for a photograph.
Selected Civil War Photographs , 1861-1865
Database cwp 4a40920 Library of Congress
Manuscripts Division Washington, D.C. 20540,
March 2, 1865 http//lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query
/r?ammem/cwar_at_field(NUMBER2B_at_band(cwp2B4a40920)
)displayType1m856sdcwpm856sf4a40920
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Click on the link below to hear an
excerpt of an oral history interview on February
19, 1999. A White Teacher, William Culp at West
Charlotte High School recalls a harmonious racial
atmosphere at West Charlotte High School during
his short time there in the 1970s. Interviewee
William Culp    Interviewer Pamela
Grundy http//docsouth.unc.edu/sohp/K-0277/excerp
ts/excerpt_576.htmlciting Oral History
Interview with William Culp, February 19, 1999.
Interview K-0277. Southern Oral History Program
Collection (4007) in the Southern Oral History
Program Collection, Southern Historical
Collection, Wilson Library, University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill.
ORAL HISTORIES
Oral histories provide information about the
past from people with first-hand knowledge of
historical events. Before people learned to
write, information was passed down from
generations through the spoken word. Examples of
oral histories can be found in interviews and
recordings. For additional information on oral
histories, visit the website below
http//www.ncwiseowl.org/ss/oralhistory
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VISUAL DOCUMENTS and ARTIFACTS
Visual documents are those that include
photographs, films, paintings, illustrations and
other types of artwork. Visual documents capture
moments in time and can provide evidence of
changes over time. A visual document has a
creator with a point of view that must be
considered as it is examined. Farm Security
Administration Office of War Information
Photograph Collection Database
ppmsca-05618 Library of Congress Prints and
Photographs Division Washington, DC
20540 Photographer Dorothea Lange, July
1939 http//lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/h?pp/PPAL
L_at_field(NUMBER_at_1(ppmsca05618))
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• REMEMBER THE FOLLOWING WHEN ANALYZING
• PRIMARY SOURCE DOCUMENTS
• Just because something was published does
• not make it truthful, accurate or reliable.
• Every document has a creator and that
• creator has a point of view which may or may
• not be biased.
• Primary sources help to piece together
• the past and it is much more interesting to
• learn about the past first-hand, rather than
• depending on the perspectives of others.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Walbert, K (2004). Reading primary sources an
in. Retrieved April 23, 2009, from
Learn NC Web site http//www.learnnc.org/lp/pages
/745 (2006). Historical treasure chests.
Retrieved March 10, 2009, from Center for
Innovation in Engineering and Science Education
Web site http//www.k12science.org/curricu
lum/treasure/index.html (September 26, 2002).
The learning page using primary sources in the
classroom. Retrieved March 12, 2009, from
Library of Congress Web site
http//memory.loc.gov/learn/lessons/primary.html
(August 23, 2006). What are primary sources?.
Retrieved April 23, 2009, from University of
Illinois Library Web site
http//www.library.uiuc.edu/village/primarysource/
mod1/pg2.htm