Lessons · Teaching · primary and secondary sources
Who made this, when, and why
A primary source was made by somebody present at the time: a letter, a photograph, a law, an object, an interview with a participant. A secondary source was made later by somebody studying it: a textbook, a documentary, an article. Both are useful and both have a point of view.
Hone is a place to practise a career, one idea a day. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.
In beta. This lesson was written for Hone and has not yet been checked by a state certification officer. Practice material, not professional advice. What that means.
What it is for
The reflex to teach is not which category a thing belongs to but the three questions: who made it, when, and why. A primary source is not automatically truthful, and knowing that is what separates reading history from collecting it.
How to think about it
Ask the three questions of everything, then ask what the source could not have known and who is missing from it. Absence is evidence too: a record that names only landowners is telling you who was counted.
Worked example
Primary: made at the time by somebody there, such as a diary or a photographClosest to the event, and not therefore honest.
Secondary: made afterwards by somebody studying it, such as a textbookFurther away, and with more of the picture available.
Ask who made it, when, and why, of every source in both categoriesPurpose is the question most often skipped and most often decisive.
Ask who is absent from the record, because that is evidence as wellA census naming only heads of household is telling you something.
Your turn
Name the kind of source made at the time by somebody who was there.
A source made at the time is a source
Solve one, graded on the server
The trap
Teaching that a primary source is more reliable. It is closer, which is different. A participant may be mistaken, partial, or writing to justify themselves.