Guide to Primary and Secondary Sources

Primary Sources

• Definition: An original piece of evidence from the past, created at the time of the event or by someone who experienced it.
• Key idea: "Straight from the source."
• Examples: diaries, letters, speeches, photographs, government records, artifacts, maps, newspapers from the time.
• Significance: Provides first-hand accounts and direct evidence of events; helps us understand how people experienced and recorded events at the time.

Secondary Sources

• Definition: Created after the event, usually by someone who was not there. It interprets, analyzes, or summarizes primary sources.
• Examples: textbooks, documentaries, encyclopedias, history websites, journal articles.
• Think: "Second-hand story."
• Significance: Offers interpretation, synthesis, and analysis of primary sources; useful for overviews, context, and understanding how later observers understand the event.

Easy Ways to Tell Them Apart

• Guiding questions:
  • Was it created during the event? → Primary
  • Was it created after the event to explain or analyze it? → Secondary
• Look for clues:
  • Date of creation
  • Author’s perspective (eyewitness vs. historian)
  • Purpose (recording vs. explaining)

Memory Tricks (Mnemonics)

• P = Primary = Present → Created when the event was present.
• S = Secondary = Second-hand → Written later, by someone not there.
• First is Primary, Second is Secondary → Primary = first evidence, Secondary = second look.
• Primary = Photo, Secondary = Summary → Helps connect examples to category.