DEFINITIONS
Primary Source
Secondary Source
Connected to an event by
time or participation.
They include any
historical evidence that
comes to us directly
from the time period or
event we are studying.
The writer is not an
eyewitness to or a
participant in the event.
Usually published books
or articles by authors who
base their interpretation
on primary sources.
EXAMPLES
Primary Source
• Diaries
• Autobiographies
• Government records
• Photographs
• Interviews with participants
• Manuscript collections
• Newspapers from the era
• Letters
• Music of the time period
• Artifacts
Secondary Source
• Biographies
• History textbooks
• Documentaries
• Interviews with scholars
• Books about the topic written by
historians
• Articles about the topic
• Most web sites
SOURCES SUPER QUIZ!
FRESHMAN LEVEL
Susan B. Anthony
1 - FRESHMAN
• Letter from SBA encouraging support for
woman’s suffrage, found in a book of
Anthony’s letters
2 - FRESHMAN
• The text of the 19th Amendment, found on
the national archives website
3 - FRESHMAN
• Your United States History textbook
4 - FRESHMAN
• A book you found in the library, written
by a historian about the woman’s
suffrage movement, published in 2006
5 - FRESHMAN
• A photograph you found in the archives
showing women protesting for the right to
vote from the early 1900s
6 - FRESHMAN
• A website describing the events of Susan
B. Anthony’s Life, written by Scholastic
Book Company
7 - FRESHMAN
• Government documents you found in a
library, which are from the time of the
passage of the 19th amendment
8 - FRESHMAN
• A pamphlet you found on the Internet,
which was published in the early 1900s
warning people about the dangers of
giving women the right to vote.
GRADUATE
World War II
1 - GRADUATE
• An interview you did with a historian
about the role of the Nazi Party in World
War II
2 - GRADUATE
• An English translation of Mein Kampf,
which you found online
3 - GRADUATE
• A YouTube video of Hitler delivering a
complete speech during World War II
4 - GRADUATE
• A copy of the Lend-Lease Act, reprinted in
your U.S. history textbook
5 - GRADUATE
• A photograph of Adolf Hitler that you
found in a book by a historian
6 - GRADUATE
• The reminiscences of a World War II
general, which you found on Google
Books
7 - GRADUATE
• An interview with the grandson of Harry
Truman, talking about his grandfather’s
decision to drop the bomb
8 - GRADUATE
• Newspaper articles announcing the end
of World War II, which you found in an
online database
PHD
The Great Depression
1 - PHD
• A quote said by FDR in 1932, which you
found at BrainyQuote.com: "I pledge
you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for
the American people."
2 - PHD
• A newspaper article written in 1955
reflecting on what life was like in
Minneapolis during the Great Depression
3 - PHD
• A newspaper article written late October
1929 by a Minneapolis newspaper
discussing what was happening on Wall
Street, which would eventually be known
as the Great Depression
4 - PHD
• A guided tour of a Civilian Conservation
Corps Camp in Minnesota
5 - PHD
• A recording of a classical music piece by
Mozart, which you used as background
music in your documentary about the
Great Depression
6 - PHD
• Ken Burn’s “The Dust Bowl”
documentary, which you rented from
the library
7 - PHD
• The fictional book, “The Grapes of
Wrath” by John Steinbeck, published in
1939
8 - PHD
• A historical journal article about farmers
during the Great Depression, which
appeared in a 1985 publication called the
“America: History and Life”
ANNOTATIONS
• Describe how source was useful
• Clarify classification