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A primary source is a record of an
event or time period that is of that time. It may be a document
of some sort, such as The Declaration of Independence, or a letter
written by Thomas Jefferson. The list of potential primary sources
is long, and includes, but is not limited to: diaries, newspaper
and magazine articles, tape recordings, movies, as well as visual
materials such as paintings, maps and photographs. Historians
and others study primary sources to gain understanding of the
past; their published works (including textbooks used in classrooms)
are called secondary sources.
Some primary sources can be found in published sources such as
collections of historical documents that are available in most
libraries. Many, however, had never been transcribed or reproduced
and published in any form; to study them, researchers must go
to libraries, archives or historical societies. In some cases,
only a small number of scholars are given access to these materials
in order to protect them from damage or deterioration. Though
that is still true for the physical documents themselves, technology
has allowed us to make many such sources -- such as the images
in Connecticut History Online -- available in digital form on
the Web.
Just as a letter or newspaper article is a source of information,
so are images. By looking closely and carefully at an image, we
can gather this information and gain greater knowledge of how
people lived and what their world was like. Pictures are often
more effective than words in helping us understand the past, but
it is important to remember that an image of an event, person
or place is only one of many possible sources, and needs to be
balanced with others. And it is important to study each image
carefully to unlock the doorway to the past it provides. Take
a closer look at the ways in which pictures can be used to
gain historical information.
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What
is a primary source?