Introduction to Primary Sources
Primary sources are first-hand accounts of history and form crucial pieces of evidence in historical arguments. Primary sources appear in a variety of forms, such as newspapers, correspondence, images, and diaries, etc. It is the job of the individual to use these sources to ask questions about society’s change and continuity.
Primary sources represent ways that researchers, historians, students, and teachers explore events, people, and other aspects of the past. Too often students overlook the utility of primary sources, however, they are an invaluable resource. For students, primary sources help to build critical thinking skills, reading comprehension, deductive reasoning skills, and promote active learning.
Grade Levels & KY Teaching Standards
5th Grade: 5.I.UE.2
8th Grade: 8.I.UE.1, 8.I.CC.1
High School: HS.C.1.UE.3
Primary Sources
Secondary Sources
Identifying Primary and Secondary Sources
James C. Giesen and Anne E. Marshall, “Reading Stone and Steel: Statues as Primary Sources for Agricultural History,” Agricultural History 89, no. 3 (Summer 2015): 358–70.
Framing Questions
- How do you decide if something is a primary source?
- Why would you use a primary source?
- How can you use a primary source to create an argument?
Terms for Discussion
Primary source: a first-hand account or record from someone who was a participant in or a direct witness to an event, period, or topic
Secondary source: a work that analyzes, interprets, or comments on a primary source, providing analysis and synthesis of information rather than firsthand accounts
Memory: the power or process of reproducing or recalling what has been learned, events, people, etc. and retained especially through associative mechanisms
The Past: having existed or taken place in a period before the present
History: branch of knowledge that records and explains past events
Activities
Connect the Dots
Have students identify the source as primary or secondary. All sources identified as a primary source should be examined and students should then craft an argument about them.