1. 9-1-2011 Notes

2. How do historians find out about the past? Since they were not there, they must use clues just like detectives. These clues can be written, visual, or physical—actual objects used by people from that time. Historians analyze their sources in much the same way that crime scene investigators examine their clues in a laboratory.

3. Historians use two major groups of sources for their investigations about the past: primary sources and secondary sources: Primary sources - records or objects that were created by people who participated in historical events Secondary sources -items created by people who studied these events. Example: Textbook

4. Visual Sources Photographs, paintings, movies, and posters Mable and Ethel Wyche, Charlotte,1930

5. Artifacts Artifacts are objects made by humans. They tell historians about the time in which they were produced and offer clues about what it was like to live then. From Historic Hope Plantation, Windsor, NC

6. Published/Unpublished Documents Government Records Magazines Newspapers Books Letters Wills Diaries Sermons Speeches source: D.H. Ramsey Library Special Collections, UNC Asheville

7. Oral Histories Created when researchers interview people about the past. James Pharis oral history excerpt (began working in the cotton mills in Eden, North Carolina at age 8. He worked for 11 hours a day and earned 25 cents a day) Click on the recorder to the left to hear his story.

8. Practice To practice identifying primary/secondary sources, click on the detective below.

9. Sources Grundy, Pamela. A Journey Through NC. Layton, Utah: Gibbs Smith, 2008. Transcript, Pharis James and Nannie Oral History Interview H-0039, December 5, 1978, by Allen Tullos, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007). Online: http://www.learnnc.org/lp/multimedia/7812http://www.learnnc.org/lp/multimedia/7812