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What is a Primary Source? 43684 Views


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Description:

This video defines a primary source and what makes it different from a secondary source. What counts as original material? And where can we find these primary sources now?

Language:
English Language
Common Core Standards:

Transcript

00:00

Thank you We sneak in primary sources Allah shmoop you

00:07

can't create a historical drama are historical fiction without historical

00:11

research and you can't do historical research without digging up

00:14

some primary sources These guys captain phillips saving private ryan

00:20

twelve years a slave zero dark thirty people actually had

00:23

to do research when they were writing those awesome scripts

00:27

Primary sources are original materials that were created during the

00:30

time being studied or by someone with firsthand knowledge of

00:34

the event So let's break it down Original means the

00:38

source was created by someone actually living in the period

00:42

we're studying So if we're studying world war two and

00:45

original material could be the diary of a soldier he

00:49

wrote it himself and he was actually in the war

00:52

It originated in that time period Materials means that primary

00:57

sources take different forms It could be a letter of

01:00

painting even a toy then there's the created during the

01:05

time being studied part well a newspaper article about world

01:08

war two that was written yesterday would not be a

01:11

primary source because it was written seventy plus years after

01:14

the event Little hindsight but just to make it confusing

01:19

Primary sources can be written after the event as long

01:23

as it was created by somebody with first hand knowledge

01:27

which means primary sources could include memoirs letters or interviews

01:31

that were made after the event If the person making

01:34

them was actually there at the time like our ww

01:36

two vet Okay what isn't a primary source Well anything

01:42

written about the past that wasn't written at that time

01:45

or wasn't written by someone with firsthand knowledge of the

01:49

event secondary source were usually text that used a bunch

01:53

of primary sources to make an argument or to interpret

01:56

the past But let's say you're writing a paper and

01:59

need you primary and secondary sources You collect interviews from

02:03

ww two bets documents from government officials describing their decisions

02:08

and actions film footage from the front and a book

02:11

published by a history professor in two thousand fourteen about

02:15

world war two Well the interview's documents and film footage

02:19

would all be primary sources The book published in two

02:22

thousand fourteen would be a secondary source Okay we're going

02:26

to hit you with some types of primary sources Pecs

02:30

not the o m g l a welcome anything that's

02:32

Written down like diary's personal letters were published works like

02:36

books or newspapers images anything visual painting doodles photographs poster

02:43

tapestry never recordings Other recordings only go back two hundred

02:47

fifty years or so You've got recordings of music aural

02:50

histories interviews tv shows radio programs and films that literally

02:54

speak to us about the past Object is pretty much

02:58

covers everything else clothes toys goings tools pottery and anything

03:03

else you think if it was made in the past

03:06

All right well so according to this definition couldn't anything

03:08

that ever existed be a primary source Well sort of

03:11

but keep in mind the further back in history go

03:14

the less likely our fine primary sources that have survived

03:18

ex deteriorate writing didn't always exist We're more likely to

03:21

have old images or object but they also deteriorate So

03:25

while we might have a ton of stuff from the

03:27

recent past our primary sources get more and more rare

03:30

as we move further back in history and our ability

03:33

to construct a picture of the past It's a little

03:36

fuzzy okay but we're in the world are all these

03:38

things kept there's some sort of secret warehouse in area

03:41

fifty one Where we find them is the nsa have

03:44

a massive database of every sound ever made in the

03:47

past hundred fifty years but no objects can be found

03:52

in archives museums or personal collection Unfortunately you don't have

03:56

to travel the world visiting all these places They're breaking

03:58

into private residence There's Very convenient way of finding primary

04:02

sources The internet There are millions and millions of primary

04:06

sources that have been digitized and put on the internet

04:09

Primary sources are the key to uncovering an accurate picture

04:13

of the past without you could make up any story

04:16

you wanted about History knows Maybe lincoln would have looked

04:19

better as a blonde or score and seven blondes ago

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