You can talk about either the great depression and hoover responses or president Truman decision/announcement to drop the bom
You can talk about either the great depression and hoover responses or president Truman decision/announcement to drop the bomb on japan during world war II..
Overview of Primary Source Documents
(from the Library of Congress)
What is a Primary Source
- A primary source is a document or other source of information that was created at or near the time being studied, often by the people being studied. Accurate history is based on primary sources.
Primary and Secondary Sources Historians use a wide variety of sources to answer questions about the past. In their research, history scholars use both primary sources and secondary sources. Primary sources are actual records that have survived from the past, such as letters, photographs, articles of clothing. Secondary sources are accounts of the past created by people writing about events sometime after they happened.
- For example, your history textbook is a secondary source. Someone wrote most of your textbook long after historical events took place. Your textbook may also include some primary sources, such as direct quotes from people living in the past or excerpts from historical documents
- People living in the past left many clues about their lives. These clues include both primary and secondary sources in the form of books, personal papers, government documents, letters, oral accounts, diaries, maps, photographs, reports, novels and short stories, artifacts, coins, stamps, and many other things. Historians call all of these clues together the historical record.
The Historical Record
- The historical record is huge. It contains literally billions of pieces of evidence about the past. Despite its huge size, the historical record gives us just a tiny glimpse of the past. Most of what happened in the past was never documented. Many sources of information about the past have been lost or destroyed. Some primary sources were accumulated simply by accident.
- But some historical sources were created and saved by people interested in recording history. People kept journals, wrote diaries and autobiographies, recorded family trees, and saved business and personal letters and papers.
- Historians analyze historical sources in different ways. First, historians think about where, when and why a document was created. They consider whether a source was created close in location and time to an actual historical event. Historians also think about the purpose of a source. Was it a personal diary intended to be kept private? Was the document prepared for the public?
Some primary sources may be judged more reliable than others, but every source is biased in some way. As a result, historians read sources skeptically and critically. They also cross-check sources against other evidence and sources. Historians follow a few basic rules to help them analyze primary sources. Read these rules below. Then read the questions for analyzing primary sources. Use these rules and questions as you analyze primary source documents yourself.
Time and Place Rule
- To judge the quality of a primary source, historians use the time and place rule. This rule says the closer in time and place a source and its creator were to an event in the past, the better the source will be. Based on the time and place rule, better primary sources (starting with the most reliable) might include:
Direct traces of the event;
Accounts of the event, created at the time it occurred, by firsthand observers and participants;
Accounts of the event, created after the event occurred, by firsthand observers and participants;
Accounts of the event, created after the event occurred, by people who did not participate or witness the event, but who used interviews or evidence from the time of the event.
Bias Rule
- The historians' second rule is the bias rule. It says that every source is biased in some way. Documents tell us only what the creator of the document thought happened, or perhaps only what the creator wants us to think happened. As a result, historians follow these bias rule guidelines when they review evidence from the past:
Every piece of evidence and every source must be read or viewed skeptically and critically.
No piece of evidence should be taken at face value. The creator's point of view must be considered.
Each piece of evidence and source must be cross-checked and compared with related sources and pieces of evidence
Questions for Analyzing Primary Sources
Who created the source and why? Was it created through a spur-of-the-moment act, a routine transaction, or a thoughtful, deliberate process?
Did the recorder have firsthand knowledge of the event? Or, did the recorder report what others saw and heard?
Was the recorder a neutral party, or did the creator have opinions or interests that might have influenced what was recorded?
Did the recorder produce the source for personal use, for one or more individuals, or for a large audience?
Was the source meant to be public or private?
Did the recorder wish to inform or persuade others? (Check the words in the source. The words may tell you whether the recorder was trying to be objective or persuasive.) Did the recorder have reasons to be honest or dishonest?
- Was the information recorded during the event, immediately after the event, or after some lapse of time? How large a lapse of time?
- When analyzing primary sources, historians consider the type of primary source under study. Different primary sources were created for different reasons. Knowing the different types of primary sources will help you evaluate the reliability of primary sources. Read about the different types of primary sources below.
Published Documents
- Some primary sources are published documents. They were created for large audiences and were distributed widely. Published documents include books, magazines, newspapers, government documents, non-government reports, literature of all kinds, advertisements, maps, pamphlets, posters, laws, and court decisions.
- When reviewing published documents, remember that just because something was published does not make it truthful, accurate, or reliable. Every document has a creator, and every creator has a point of view, blind spots, and biases. Also remember that even biased and opinionated sources can tell us important things about the past.
Unpublished Documents
Many types of unpublished documents have been saved, and can be used as primary sources. These include personal letters, diaries, journals, wills, deeds, family Bibles containing family histories, school report cards, and many other sources. Unpublished business records such as correspondence, financial ledgers, information about customers, board meeting minutes, and research and development files also give clues about the past.
Unpublished documents often come from community organizations, churches, service clubs, political parties, and labor unions in the form of membership lists, meeting minutes, speeches, financial and other records. Government at all levels creates a variety of unpublished records. These include police and court records, census records, tax and voter lists, departmental reports, and classified documents.
Unlike published documents, unpublished records may be difficult to find because few copies exist. For example, personal letters may be found only in the possession of the person to whom the letters were sent. Letters of famous or remarkable people may be collected and eventually published. Keep in mind that letter writers did not intend (and perhaps could not imagine) that their letters would be read by more than one person. Because unpublished documents were seldom meant to be read by the public, they provide interesting clues about the past.
Oral Traditions/Oral Histories
Oral traditions and oral histories provide another way to learn about the past from people with firsthand knowledge of historical events. Recently, spoken words that make up oral histories have gained importance as primary sources. Historians and others find out about the lives of ordinary people through spoken stories and tales. Oral histories provide important historical evidence about people, especially minority groups, who were excluded from mainstream publications or did not leave behind written primary sources.
Oral histories are as old as human beings. Before the invention of writing, information passed from generation to generation through the spoken word. Many people around the world continue to use oral traditions to pass along knowledge and wisdom. Interviews and recordings of community elders and witnesses to historical events provide exciting stories, anecdotes, and other information about the past.
Visual Documents and Artifacts
- Visual documents include photographs, films, paintings, and other types of artwork. Because visual documents capture moments in time, they can provide evidence of changes over time. Visual documents include evidence about a culture at specific moments in history: its customs, preferences, styles, special occasions, work, and play.
- Like other primary source documents, a visual document has a creator with a point of view — such as a painter, sculptor, or film maker. Even photographs were created by photographers using film and cameras to create desired effects.
- Think about the creator's point of view when you review visual documents. What was the creator's purpose? Why this pose? Why that perspective? Why that framing? Why this distance? Why this subject? What was included? What was excluded? Using visual documents as primary sources requires careful analysis of the content and the point of view of the creator.
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Step 1: View the Power Point Lesson for the "Overview for Primary Source Documents" provided by the Library of Congress Preview the document” which describes primary and secondary sources. This step is VITAL!
Step 3: After a primary source and secondary source(s) is chosen, students can begin to write the paper by answering the 10 questions below. The finished product should be a formal paper that is 2-3 pages written in essay style (minimal work will get a minimal grade). At the top left of the first page, show the word count. There should NOT be a cover page.
Reviews are to be doubled-spaced in Microsoft Word format utilizing MLA format and must include a works cited page. Reviews should be composed in Times New Roman 12 point font. There must be internal citations within the paper itself.
Take into consideration the information presented in the Overview of Primary Source Documents lesson: Address the following points in your review, but do NOT answer the questions line-by-line:
Who wrote the document? Until you know this you know little about the document. Sometimes you can figure this out from the document itself. Was the author a political or private individual? Was he educated or not?
Who was the intended audience/who was the letter or speech written to? This will tell you about the author's use of language and the knowledge that he assumed on the part of the reader.
What is the story line? What is going on in the document?
Why was the document written? Everything is written for a reason. Is it just a random note, or a scholarly thesis?
What type of document is this, or what is its purpose? A newspaper article is different than a diary. Thus, one can expect to extract different kinds of information from different kinds of documents. A private letter to a friend is very different from a political letter written to discuss governmental matters.
What are the basic assumptions made by the author? For example, did the author assume that the reader could understand certain foreign or engineering terms?
Can you believe this document? Is it reliable? Is it likely? This should be more than a yes or no answer. What makes it believable or not?
What can you learn about the society that produced this document? All documents reveal information about the people who produced them. It is embedded in the language and assumptions of the text. Your task is to learn how to "read," or analyze, a document to extract information about a society. You might wish to analyze each document in terms of various aspects of a society (economic, political, religion, social structure, culture, etc.).
What is the importance of this document to history or government? Everything can be considered important even if it is not important for political or governmental purposes. Does it shed light on what life was like during the time period it was written? Does it demonstrate views of the world from a time long ago? Etc.
Finally, What does this document mean to you? If you answer nothing, you will lose a whole letter grade. You are the one picking out the sources, so pick something that you find interesting that means something to you. Tell me why it means something to you and why you picked it.
Step 4: Submit your Signature Assignment paper in MICROSOFT WORD format. Please understand that all papers WILL be checked for plagiarism before grading.
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