Primary/Secondary Sources
What do you see?
Describe who you see in this picture? Where are the people in this picture?
What new people or things do you see?
Make a hypothesis about what you think is happening in this picture.
Do you see someone who looks different from the others? Who could it be?
Life of George Washington--The farmer / painted by Stearns ; lith. by Régnier, imp. Lemercier, Paris. CREATED/PUBLISHED Paris : Lemercier, c1853. SUMMARY: Washington standing among African-American fieldworkers harvesting hay; Mt. Vernon in background.
Examples of primary sources: Poems Diaries Letters Interviews Original Art Work Photos Research Results Objects (artifact) Autobiographies Official Document: treaties, court records… Videotape of a performance
Places that you can find primary sources? In books In an attic At your house In a library Virginia Room in Fairfax - FCPL Library of Congress website:
What is a primary source?
A primary source is something that was created in the time under study. A primary source is an original work written by someone who witnessed or wrote close to an event. The primary source has not been evaluated, interpreted, or analyzed. A primary source helps us to know how people lived, worked, and played in the past.
Examples of secondary sources? Dictionaries History Books or Text Books Encyclopedias Almanacs Magazines Biographies
What is a secondary source?
A secondary source is created using information provided by someone else. Secondary sources are often created with some distance from the event. The primary source has been evaluated, interpreted or analyzed.
When is a source a primary source? When using a source, examine when the item was created, who created the item and why it was created. Ask questions, to deepen understanding of the source. What do you think about the following sources?
TITLE: Epistola…de Insulis nuper inventis (Letter Concerning the Islands Recently Discovered…) Created/Published: by Christopher Columbus ( ) in Rome: 1493, Rare Books and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress Interpreted from text: There I found very many islands, filled with innumerable people, and I have taken possession of them all for their Highnesses, done by proclamation and with the royal standard unfurled, and no opposition was offered to me. Taken from pg. 14 in AAMNVA notebook.
TITLE: Columbus taking possession of the new country. CREATED/PUBLISHED: Boston, U.S.A. : Published by the Prang Educational Co., print : chromolithograph, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress. Taken from pg. 14 in AAMNVA notebook.
Think…. Are these primary or secondary sources? What do the items tell you about Christopher Columbus? What don’t the items tell you about Christopher Columbus?