Immerse Yourself In History with Primary & Secondary Sources

Introducing Primary & Secondary Sources A Primary Source is: An artifact of its time A first-hand account about a person or historic event. Examples: Historic objects Manuscripts Interviews with participants Autobiographies Government records Newspapers from the era Letters Photographs Music of the era Original film footage A Secondary Source is: Commentary or analysis of a historical event that is based on primary sources. Examples: Biographies Encyclopedias History textbooks Media documentaries Books about the topic Interviews with scholars/experts Articles about the topic Websites

Where Should I Start? Historical Sites Libraries Historical Societies Interviews Historical Societies These libraries have more resources than school libraries and often include primary sources, such as old news papers. In Ohio, state and local historical societies specialize in collecting information about Ohio. Some historical societies and archives have specialized collections that relate to national topics. Many sites have restored/recreated areas you can visit to help you get a feeling for what it was like during the time period. You may also have the opportunity to see objects/images from the time which can help you understand historical context. If people connected to your topic are still living, you can conduct oral history interviews with them or send them questions via mail or email. Be prepared to take notes or record the interview.

Online Resources - Google Google Advanced Search http://www.google.com/advanced_search Search certain classes of websites (.gov, .org, .edu) or within a particular website “site:” followed by domain name Ex. (pearl harbor site:.gov) Ex. (pearl harbor site:ohiohistory.org) Limit your search to specific file formats (pdf, ppt, doc) Search term “filetype:” followed by format abbreviation Ex. (pearl harbor filetype:pdf) Exclude pages that have specific key words Hyphen in front of the word you don’t want to appear in the search results Ex. (pearl harbor -memorial) Search specific group of words Quotation marks around the words Ex. (“pearl harbor attack”)

Online Resources - Google Google Advanced Image Search https://www.google.com/advanced_image_search Search to certain classes of websites (.gov, .org, .edu) or within a particular website “site:” followed by domain name Ex. (pearl harbor site:.gov) Ex. (pearl harbor site:ohiohistory.org) Search image attributes Helpful when looking for highest quality images Choose from drop down menu – large, specific dimensions, or file size Size search shortcut: size option menu on the right side of results page Google Books http://books.google.com/ Google Patent Search http://www.google.com/?tbm=pts

Online Resources - Wikipedia Wikipedia – Using Wikipedia Responsibly Understand what it is and how it works: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia Look critically at citations Links to more information Images on Wikipedia Wikipedia relies on public domain images, many from national archival collections already available to you. Although public domain images can be used, you still need to cite the repository Finding the repository behind images on Wikipedia. Click on the image Read the description Does it say where the image came from? Does it have a link to the repository? Is it a reputable source?

Other Great Online Resources National Archives and Records Administration Online Public Access – New Integrated Search Interface www.archives.gov/research/search/ Charters of Freedom www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/ Our Documents – 100 Milestone Documents www.ourdocuments.gov/ Library of Congress American Memory memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html

Other Great Online Resources Prints & Photographs Online Catalog www.loc.gov/pictures/ Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ Smithsonian Institution Collections Search Center collections.si.edu/search/ Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) dp.la/

Contact Us! Dr. David Simonelli, Region 4 Coordinator Department of History, DeBartolo Hall, Room 533 Youngstown State University dsimonelli@ysu.edu 330-941-1601 Kayla Metzger, Region 4 Local History Corps Rep Department of History, DeBartolo Hall, Room 529 klmetzger.americorps@gmail.com 330-941-3459 @HistoryDayYSU