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Examples of primary sources include: personal journals/diaries/memoirs, letters, court proceedings, legislative debates, newspaper and magazine articles, movies, music, art, etc. Secondary Sources (i.e., historiography) – Books and articles produced by historians.
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Introduction. Primary sources are the pieces of evidence that historians use to learn about people, events, and everyday life in the past. Just like detectives, historians look at clues, sift through evidence, and reach conclusions. Students can use primary sources, too.
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What are examples of primary sources?
What is a primary source in history?
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What is a secondary source in history?
Some examples of primary sources are autobiographies and memoirs, letters and correspondence, original documents such as vital records, photographs and recordings, records of an organization, newspaper or magazine articles, journals and diaries, speeches, and artifacts.
On HR111 you will also use primary sources. There are several very good reasons why. Original source material allows you to step more directly into the past and to get a better understanding of past societies. Primary sources are the raw material of the historian. They serve as evidence for the interpretation of past events.
- The Art of War by Sun-Tzucoelacan
- Unravelling The Sources
- Primary Sources
- Written Sources
- Epigraphy
- Settlements, Buildings, & Monuments
- Artefacts
- Bones
- Secondary Sources
To fill in the context of the past we wish to study involves carefully questioning a whole bunch of sources – not just written ones – and avoiding pitfalls as much as possible. The closely connected field of archaeologyoffers a priceless helping hand in achieving this, so these sources will be discussed here, too.
Sources are our way of peering into the past, but the various kinds all present their own benefits and difficulties. The first distinction to make is between primary and secondary sources. A primary source is first-hand material that stems (roughly) from the time period that one wants to examine, whereas a secondary source is an additional step rem...
However cool actual sources from times gone by may be, we cannot simply assume that everything they tell us (or everything we think they tell us) is true, or that we are automatically able to interpret their contents and context correctly. They were made by people, from within their own contexts. Keeping a critical eye and asking questions is thus ...
Some examples of primary written sources are contemporary letters, eyewitness accounts, official documents, political declarations and decrees, administrative texts, and histories and biographies written in the period that is to be studied. Benefits – details; personal side; context The unmatched level of detail presented by written sources in gene...
Epigraphy refers to the study of inscriptions engraved upon various surfaces such as stone, metal, wood, clay tablets, or even wax, which may vary hugely in length from mere abbreviated words and administrative tablets to depicting entire official decrees. Benefits – typically durable; visible Usually, inscriptions tend to be pretty durable because...
Benefits – made to last; indicate structure of societies The daily lives of people become visible through the remains of their houses and the buildings they made use of, such as courts of law, bakeries, or schools. Monuments, also not unusually flashing inscriptions at its audience, can reveal the messages their normally powerful creators cried out...
Benefits – daily lives; use; society & culture Pitfalls – inferring meaning; inferring clues about society Artefacts are man-made things of archaeological interest, often from a cultural context. Examples are pottery, utensils, tools and jewellery, which can alert us to daily lives, style and culture; art – including statues – which can be both pub...
Benefits – morphology; health & related clues; filling in blanks; genetic evidence Studying bones yields clues regarding health, gender, age, size, diet, etc. Retrieval of ancient DNA – though not exactly a walk in the park – is also possible. The context in which bones are found as well as the point in time they came from help to fill information ...
After the maze that is primary sources, we may be tempted to think secondary sources are a sort of safe haven, where skilled researchers have taken all of the above-mentioned issues into account and have already come as close to actual history as possible. However, this would be a tad naïve; the people writing the secondary material are just as bou...
- Emma Groeneveld
A primary source is a gateway to the past because it is an object or document that comes directly from the time period to which it refers. Primary sources might be government documents, menus from restaurants, diaries, letters, musical instruments, photographs, portraits drawn from life, songs, and so on.
Apr 2, 2024 · Primary sources are the evidence of history. They are the first-hand accounts of an event or period of time created by participants or observers. There are many kinds of primary sources including texts (letters, diaries, government reports, newspaper accounts, novels, autobiographies), images (photographs, paintings, advertisements, posters ...
