Introduction to Primary Sources Definitions and Examples

Historians & Primary Sources Primary sources are the evidence used by historians in their analysis/interpretation of the past. Good history books and scholarly journal articles (secondary sources) carefully cite the evidence in footnotes. Primary sources help us make personal connections with the past.

“The estimated infant death rates in colonial era Philadelphia was 234 per 1000 in 1751 based on baptismal and burial records.” Cobb family graves (1718-1728): George age 5 months; Isaac 1 year 5 months; Samuel 20 days; Samuel 16 days; Thankfull 19 days

“Discouraged by this turn of events, and bereaved by the deaths (1884) of his mother and his wife, Alice Hathaway Lee, Roosevelt retired to his ranch in the Dakota Territory.” Roosevelt’s diary for February 1884.

Cartoons dealing with women and suffrage: Inside a woman’s brain; Leap year enthusiasts (1908); Dr. Seuss cartoon (1942);

Primary Sources: Definitions “historical raw materials” “the leavings, the shards, the remnants of people who once lived and don't live anymore” “is material -- a document or other evidence -- that was created during the period or the event”

Your leavings… What have you done in the last 24 hours? What evidence did you leave of your activities? What evidence will be preserved for the future?

Primary Sources Preservation of documents depends on a number of factors: the number of documents that were actually written (which depends on the complexity of the society and the extent of literacy), the durability of the material on which they were written, the desire to preserve them (along with the existence of institutions for that end), and the number of events which might have destroyed them (not surprisingly, peasant revolts have often involved destroying landlords' records; the fortunes of war and acts of God have also done their share to destroy documents that have nothing to do with the events themselves). Other things being equal, it seems logical that the chances for a document to survive are greater if it is more recent…

Written primary sources Public/published Newspapers Magazines Books Written during time Written later by participants (memoirs) Gov’t reports

Written primary sources Private Letters Diaries Can later be published in book, microfilm, web formats Unpublished material found in manuscript archives

Unwritten primary sources Graphics photographs posters art maps Artifacts buildings furniture Coins clothing tombstones

Analysis of primary sources Time and Place Rule The closer in time and place a source and its creator are to an event, the better the source Direct traces  contemporary accounts by firsthand observers/participants  accounts of the events created later by first hand observers/participants Congressional hearing  newspaper accounts of the hearing / diary entries by participants / letters of observers  memoirs of participants published years later

Analysis of primary sources Bias Rule Every source is biased in some way Evidence must be read or viewed skeptically and critically Creator’s point of view and motives must be considered Each piece of evidence must be compared with other evidence