Primary and Secondary Sources

What is going on in this photo? What questions does it raise?

What is a Primary Source?

Autobiographies Diaries Documents Eyewitness accounts Film footage Laws Letters Newspaper articles

Novels Objects from the time Oral histories Original advertisements Original literary or theatrical works Photographs Poems, art, music Speeches

The actual accounts of events or the original documents. A primary source is first hand evidence. It was written or drawn by a person who was there at the time of an event. It is contemporary to the period being studied. Primary sources are actual records that have survived from the past.

Why do we use primary sources in history?

No bias, no viewpoint Only your interpretation Can give additional information

Materials Textures Printing methods Technologies

Questions to ask yourself when looking at Primary

Sources Who wrote this? How do they know the information they

are telling me? When did they write it? Why did they write it? Who did they write it for?

What are Secondary Sources?

Biographies Encyclopedias History books Textbooks

They interpret the primary sources. Secondary sources of information come from people who were not present when the event occurred. They are produced after the action took place. As a result, secondary sources are often less accurate than primary sources.