Teacher Resources
What are primary sources?
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What are primary sources?
Primary sources are works of human endeavor that were created at the time
or very close to the
time that is studied. A primary source can be any of the following: a
written account, a published account, an image, an artifact, a work of
art, the physical environment and the built environment, a human
being. What constitutes a primary source is hard to define and is often
arbitrary. It may indeed change as the source is used.
Some examples of primary sources include:
- Written accounts—diaries, letters, ledgers, account books, notes,
vital
records.
- Published accounts— any written account that was published as
well
as
newspapers, books, periodicals, almanacs, cookbooks, broadsides, travel
books, childrens literature, novels, poetry, pamphlets, sermons,
advertisements.
- Images—paintings, drawings, photographs, lithographs, woodcuts,
maps,
video, film.
- Artifacts— buildings, machines, objects, clothing, weapons.
- Human beings—anyone alive or whose voice and thoughts were
captured
by an
electronic recording may be considered a primary source for their life
experiences. They are, in effect, eyewitnesses to history.
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