Primary sources are original records created by people involved in or witnessing an event, such as diaries, photographs, artifacts, and oral histories. They provide a first-hand perspective but reflect a single point of view. Secondary sources are created after an event by historians or others and include textbooks, biographies, and media coverage. While useful, secondary sources cannot capture the perspectives of those alive at the time. The document provides examples of both primary and secondary sources and quizzes the reader to identify the classification of given sources.

1. An Introduction to
Primary and Secondary Sources

2. Primary
Sources

3. What are primary sources?
Original records from the past recorded by
people who were:
Involved in the event
Witnessed the event
Knew the persons involved in the event

4. They can also be objects (artifacts) or visual
evidence.
They give you an idea about what people
alive at the time saw or thought about the
event.
What are primary sources?

5. Keep in mind that a primary source reflects
only one point of view and may contain a
person’s bias (prejudice) toward an event.
What are primary sources?

6. Examples of primary sources:
Books, magazines, newspapers
Printed Publications

7. Examples of primary sources:
Personal Records
Diaries, journals, records

8. Examples of primary sources:
Visual Materials
Paintings, drawings, sculpture

9. Examples of primary sources:
Visual Materials
photographs, film, maps

10. Examples of primary sources:
Oral Histories
Chronicles, memoirs, myths, legends passed down by
word of mouth
Click on this button to hear an
example of oral history -------- >

11. Examples of primary sources:
Songs and Poems

12. Examples of primary sources:
Artifacts
Tools, ornaments, objects

13. Secondary Sources

14. 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.

15. 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.

16. Examples of secondary sources:
Textbooks, biographies,
histories, newspaper report
and audiovisual material
done by someone who was
not present

17. Examples of secondary sources:
Charts, graphs, or images
created AFTER the time
period.

18. Name that Source!
The following slides contain examples of
primary and secondary sources. See if you can
classify each example as a primary or secondary
source.

19. Classify these: primary or
secondary?

20. Classify these: primary or
secondary?

21. Classify these: primary or
secondary?

22. Classify these: primary or
secondary?

23. The End