1. Straight to the Source Using Online Primary Sources Kendall F. Wiggin Connecticut State Librarian October 23, 2007

2. Using primary sources in research papers and projects is a time-honored way to engage students with primary historical materials.

3. What is a Primary Source Basically it is a First Hand Account of History – Take the Form of: Manuscripts Photographs Diaries Oral Histories Data Sets Videos

4. Where Do You Find Primary Source Materials? – Before the Internet Found in: Archives Libraries Museums Historical Societies – Today Websites for all of the above Connecticut History Online

5. Primary sources are available online today because of the development of technologies to scan and add metadata to original materials. Documents and photographs were among the earliest primary sources to become accessible online. While many students and adults think everything is now online, we are a long way from that – despite Google's goal of digitizing all the world’s knowledge.

6. Why use primary sources? Develop critical thinking skills Understand all history is local Acquire empathy for the human condition Understand the continuum of history Consider different points of view in analysis

7. Connecticut History Sources Online There are numerous authoritative sources – Federal Government – State Government – Libraries and Societies

8. Library of Congress – American Memory http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html

9. Connecticut History Online http://www.cthistoryonline.org/

10. Connecticut State Library www.cslib.org http://cslib.cdmhost.com/index.php

11. Connecticut Historical Society http://www.chs.org/collections.htm

12. Colonial Connecticut Records http://www.colonialct.uconn.edu /

22. Secondary Online Historical Resources Newspapers – Historical Hartford Courant on iCONN.org Digitized Books

27. Digitized Books on Connecticut

31. Kendall F. Wiggin State Librarian kwiggin@cslib.org