Primary Sources
Library Services Training Series
October 29, 2015
Heather Dahl
Primary Sources
• Definition:
• Sources from the time period
• A primary source is a
document or physical object
which was written or created
during the time under study.
These sources were present
during an experience or time
period and offer an inside view
of a particular event.
• Secondary Sources
• A secondary source interprets
and analyzes primary sources.
These sources are one or more
steps removed from the event.
Secondary sources may have
pictures, quotes or graphics of
primary sources in them.
Some types of secondary
sources include:
PUBLICATIONS: Textbooks,
magazine articles, histories,
criticisms, commentaries,
encyclopedias (Princeton)
Examples
• ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS
(excerpts or translations
acceptable): Diaries,
speeches, manuscripts,
letters, interviews, news
film footage,
autobiographies, official
records
• CREATIVE WORKS: Poetry,
drama, novels, music, art
• RELICS OR ARTIFACTS:
Pottery, furniture, clothing,
buildings
Common Core and Critical Thinking
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Common Core- LOC newlsetter
Student-centered
Inquiry driven
Use of evidence for deep
analysis and interpretation
• Comparison of different
sources
• ELA- cite textual evidence
from primary and secondary
sources
• Contextualize, make
inferences, and prompt
student to consider what else
she needs to know
• Critical Thinking
• Learn to create the narrative
• Realize point of view, including
their own
• Become the expert
• “Do” the work of an historian
• Context of time- get “inside”
the thinking of a time period
• Historical contingency- realize
that historical moments were
human decisions, not predetermined events
Is it really primary? Mediated sources
• Textbooks
• Photographs
• Find the closest to original source as possible
The real thing:
Teaching with
Documents
(NARA)
The featured document, a
telegram from Senator
Joseph R. McCarthy to
President Harry S. Truman,
was sent to the president on
February 11, 1950, two days
after the Wheeling speech.
Also included is Truman's
reply (probably unsent).
Citations for Primary Sources
• Library of Congress support
• Primary sources are not a TYPE of source and
should be cited as their source type (which is
why annotated bibliographies are important)
Projects that use them
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National History Day
Research Papers
AP courses (teachers often pre-select)
Museum displays
Where else do you see in curriculum?
Where else can you push for teachers to
integrate?
• What other teachers besides Social Studies?
Keywords to find them
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Search by keyword for Primary Sources in the Main Catalog
You can search the Main Catalog to find direct references to primary source material. Perform a
keyword search for your topic and add one of the words below:
(these are several examples of words that would identify a source as primary) charters
correspondence
diaries
early works
interviews
manuscripts
oratory
pamphlets
personal narratives
sources
speeches
letters
Documents
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www.princeton.edu/~refdesk/primary2.html
Places to find them
• Free web- use “+ primary source,” “+document,”
“+speech” etc
• Subscription Databases- several options- see
UNM. If projects need student searching
• Library of Congress- historic Newspapers
• National Archives- US documents
• UNM eContent Library and Atlas of Historic NM
• Internet Modern History Sourcebook (Fordham)
LMTS funded databases
Examples of Specialty Databases
Create Research Pathways
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Transatlantic Slave Trade (Emory)
Civil War
Gilder Lehrman – US History Collections
The West (PBS)
US Maps (LOC)
Martin Luther King, JR see Notes on War
Great Example of Librarians’ Categorizing
“Primary Sources at Yale”
Role of Librarian
• Know key search terms to help individual students
better find primary sources
• Direct students to “as close to primary” as possible
sites
• Create thematic project pathways for teachers- based
on units/ content/ projects
• Offer teacher training to LOC and NARA and be ready
to help students in classes
• Know enough to recommend where to look, key terms
to search, how to evaluate and cite, and search in other
databases
• Featured documents and lessons to teachers
Get Clicking: Library of Congress
Get Clicking: NARA (archives.gov)
• Teacher Resources
• National Archives Catalog
(ARC)
• Browse Online Exhibits
Not as easy as LOC, but
always get to ARC or feature
pathways to particular
exhibits. Great teacher
lesson plans.
Example: What’s Cooking
Get Clicking: NM digital content
Get Clicking: NM Historical Atlas