Using Primary Sources in the Classroom Bridget M. Marshall University of Massachusetts, Lowell Bridget_Marshall@uml.edu NEH Summer 2013

Primary sources give witness to the past and provide clues about past life. They come in many forms, including:

• Written documents • Images • Cultural Artifacts • Maps • Photographs  

•  Personal letters •  Newspapers •  Advertisements •  Ephemera •  Cartoons

 

Using primary sources requires (and exercises) critical thinking

skills.

Ø Ask questions (and then ask more!) Ø Evaluate sources Ø Assess limitations Ø Draw conclusions

Critical Thinking & Questioning

We can ask questions about the creator, but also about the Ø Publisher(s) Ø Distributor(s) Ø Owner(s) Ø Interpreter(s) Ø and ourselves

based on primary documents.

Questions about the Original

• What is this? • Who created it – and why? • How many were created? • What technologies were used? • Was it meant to be public or private? • When was it created? • What does it tell me about the creator and his/

her life?

Primary Documents: They don’t have to be about famous people.

Sample material from Slate article “Permanent Record” by Paul Lukas about a cache of report cards from the Manhattan Trade School for Girls in the 1920s

Questions about the Process

• How did we get this? • Who saved it – and why? • Was it meant to be public or private? • Has it been altered? Changed? Revised? • Are there alternate versions? • Are there signs of preservation practices or

technologies? • How have others interpreted it?

Has it been altered? Example: Lincoln pardon document

Questions about Ourselves

• What is my reaction to this source? • How does my reaction compare to the reactions

of previous audiences? • What questions does it raise, what hypotheses

can I make, and where can I go for answers? • How does it relate to what I’ve learned about this

period? • Why does this document matter?

Which Primary Documents Matter?

We often don’t know until they’re uncovered. Think about:

•  The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank •  The Bondwoman’s Narrative by Hannah Crafts •  All that stuff that shows up at The Smoking Gun

website or is released by Wikileaks •  Just about any trove of “secret” government

documents or even private e-mails •  Birth certificates, anyone? •  It’s not just documents about famous people or

events

We don’t always know what will be saved (or what has been saved)

Thanksgiving Day Menu, 1899, Hotel St James, Bradford PA (via NYPL & Slate’s “the Vault” series

Lessons of Primary Documents

• We need to be skeptical and ask questions. • Consider the source: We need to consider the

point of view and biases of the creator(s) and distributors.

•  “The past doesn’t change but our understanding of it does.”

•  The search for primary documents continues…(and it’s pretty exciting!)

“New” documents are still out there! Example: Ted Hughes poem about Sylvia Plath (written 1963; discovered fall 2010)

Descartes’ 1641 letter, stolen 1840s, found 2010, Haverford College

Link to Statistics 1835: http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=rbpe&fileName=rbpe05/rbpe056/05601000/rbpe05601000.db&recNum=0&itemLink=r?ammem/rbpe:@field%28DOCID+@lit%28rbpe05601000%29%29%2305601000001&linkText=1 Hi-Res: http://memory.loc.gov/rbc/rbpe/rbpe05/rbpe056/05601000/001da.tif

Link to Lowell Manufactures 1857: http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=rbpe&fileName=rbpe06/rbpe062/0620280a/rbpe0620280a.db&recNum=0&itemLink=h?ammem/rbpebib:@field%28NUMBER+@band%28rbpe+0620280a%29%29&linkText=0 Hi Res: http://memory.loc.gov/rbc/rbpe/rbpe06/rbpe062/0620280a/001da.tif

Link to Examination of Lowell High School at Library of Congress: http://memory.loc.gov/rbc/rbpe/rbpe06/rbpe062/06201600/001dr.jpg