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Sources of History

This document discusses primary and secondary sources in history. It defines primary sources as original documents created by people involved in or witness to an historical event, such as diaries, letters, photographs, and artifacts. Secondary sources are created later and include interpretations of events by historians or others not directly involved, such as textbooks and biographies. Examples of each type of source are provided like paintings and oral histories as primary, and encyclopedias as secondary. The document encourages analyzing sources based on author and timing to determine their primary or secondary status.

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suruchi dhingra
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83 views29 pages

Sources of History

This document discusses primary and secondary sources in history. It defines primary sources as original documents created by people involved in or witness to an historical event, such as diaries, letters, photographs, and artifacts. Secondary sources are created later and include interpretations of events by historians or others not directly involved, such as textbooks and biographies. Examples of each type of source are provided like paintings and oral histories as primary, and encyclopedias as secondary. The document encourages analyzing sources based on author and timing to determine their primary or secondary status.

Uploaded by

suruchi dhingra
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Is an artefact, document, diary, manuscript, autobiography, recording, drawing,

painting,monument etc that gives us information about people who lived during a particular time,
or about an event that took place at a particular time.

Sources are very important when you have to use information for a project, for a debate or for a
study programme.

So, after our two sessions on History, are you clear about the types of sources that are available
to us?..
PRIMARY SECONDARY
SOURCES? SOURCES ?
WHAT ARE PRIMARY SOURCES?
Are original documents written by the people
who were involved or have experienced or
were eyewitnesses to the event or knew people
involved in the event.
• In short, primary sources are original
documents
WHAT ARE PRIMARY SOURCES?

• They can also be objects


(artefacts) or visual evidence.
• They give you an idea about what
people who lived at the time did,
saw or thought about the event.
EXAMPLES OF PRIMARY SOURCES…
….Printed Publications

Newspapers
EXAMPLES OF PRIMARY SOURCES…
…. Personal Records

Diaries

records
EXAMPLES OF PRIMARY SOURCES…
…. Visual Materials [ only the original ones]
drawings

Paintings sculpture
EXAMPLES OF PRIMARY SOURCES…
…. Oral Histories

Open this link to hear an example of oral history :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-L8HQmDVNg
EXAMPLES OF PRIMARY SOURCES…
…. Songs and poems
EXAMPLES OF PRIMARY SOURCES…
…. Lullabys.

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-


SA-NC
EXAMPLES OF PRIMARY SOURCES…
…. Artefacts

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under


CC BY-SA
EXAMPLES OF PRIMARY SOURCES…
…. ……and monuments
WHAT ARE SECONDARY SOURCES?
• Secondary sources are made at a later time.
• They include written information by historians
or others AFTER an event has taken place.
• Secondary sources are developed by people
who researched events but did not experience
them directly. Hence, may contain their
interpretations as well. [ So, do you think a secondary
source can always be trusted?]
• May have pictures, quotes, or graphics of
primary sources in them.
WHAT ARE SECONDARY SOURCES?
• Although they can be useful and reliable, they cannot reflect what
people who lived at the time thought or felt about the event.
• But they can represent a more fair account of the event because they
can include more than one point of view, or may include information
that was unavailable at the time of the event.
EXAMPLES OF SECONDARY SOURCES

Textbooks, biographies, histories, newspaper report by


someone who was not present at the place where the
event took place
EXAMPLES OF SECONDARY SOURCES
So, to find out the difference between Primary and Secondary
Sources?
If it is an artefact, then You should get into the habit of asking yourself
these questions……
1. Is the artefact/monument created during the actual time by the
people who used them in their daily lives?

If it is a document with information that you want to use for a research then ask
yourself the question..
1. How does the author know these details (names, dates, times)?
2. Was the author present at the event or soon on the scene?
3. Where does the information come from – personal experience,
eyewitness accounts, or reports written by others?
4. Are the author’s conclusions based on a single piece of evidence, or
have many other sources been taken into account?
Cave paintings.

Is it a primary
source or a
secondary
source ? Why?
Let’s Try A Few More…
The Letters and Papers
written by Mahatma
Gandhiji…
A legal document such
as a will, contract, or
property deed related
to a person or event.
History of Cars…
Encyclopedia
Can you identify more sources….?
Here is your task for the weekend:

On a piece of paper, write down a list of objects/ monuments/ books


etc that you see, or have visited or you possess.
Now you have to identify 10 primary sources and 10 secondary
sources and write it in your notebook [ from the above list]. You could
draw a T chart to do this work. I will be collecting your notebooks for
corrections on Monday so do ensure you bring it to school with the
work done.
Hope you enjoyed identifying
the valuable sources of History
and then classifying them into
Primary and secondary
sources….
Now, you know that sources of history can be
classified into two types

Primary Secondary
source source
Sources Used for images for this PPT
• www.google.co.in
• Bing.com

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