PRIMARY SOURCES vs. SECONDARY SOURCES
BEFORE WE BEGIN: WHICH IS WHICH? Look at the following pictures, documents, and items, and det~rmine if they are Primary or Secondary Sources. If you arc not sure, make your best guess. 1. The textbook "American Nation". 2. Photo ofbuzz Aldrin on the Moon. 3. Your backpack. 4. The movie Titanic (1995). 5. The Bible used by Abraham Lincoln when he was sworn in as President.
PRIMARYSOURCES PRIMARY SOURCES ARE THE DOCUMENTS, LETTERS, DIARIES, MAGAZINES, PHOTOS, FILMS, ETC. FROM THE PERIOD BEING STUDIED. THE DIARY OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS (OVER 500 YEARS OLD), IS A PRIMARY SOURCE. FILM OF ASTRONAUTS ON THE MOON FROM 1969 IS A PRIMARY SOURCE. A PHOTO OF BABE RUTH FROM 1927 IS A PRIMARY SOURCE. EVEN YOUR BACKPACK IS A PRIMARY SOURCE. THESE ARE THE REAL STUFF OF HISTORY! PRIMARY SOURCES ARE PREFERRED BY HISTORIANS BECAUSE THEY GIVE A DIRECT LINE INTO THE TIME BEING STUDIED! SECONDARYSOURCES Secondary Sources are sources tllat were produced after the event took place. A textbook is a secondary source. A television show about the Columbus journey is a secondary source (since there were no CaIneras in 1492) Drawings, paintings, aild nlusic Inade years later are secondary sources. The movies "Titanic," "Pearl Harbor," and "Schindler's List" are all secondary sources. Historians tend to avoid secondary sources if possible. I-Iowever, secondary sources can be valuable. j1"or exainple, there are no photos of George Washinf:,>ton available (again, no Call1eraS back then!), so paintings (secondary sources) are used instead to deterlnine what he looked like. If you want to read about the full life of l'\nne FraIlk, you have little choice but to read a secondary source (a biography) produced years after she died. Secondary sources have their place in historical study, just not every tilne.
I~EWSPAPERS AS -------- PRIMARY SOURCES ---_-:...==----.
ATRUE PRIMARY SOURCR AND A SLOPPY SECONDARY SOURCE: -- -- THE ZAPRUDER FILM AND THE HITLER DIARIES On November 22, 1963, Abraham Twenty years later, in April 1983, a Zapruder stood on a small block of stone very different source appeared. The awaiting the arrival on a motorcade that included President John F. Kennedy. The President was visiting Dallas, Texas as a Gennan magazine Stern announced that the diaries of Adolph Hitler, dictator of Nazi Germany, had been discovered. pre-campaign stop and was These diaries were planning to speak at lunch for supposedly discovered local business leaders. On the several years earlier in a barn way, he would be riding and had been smuggled out of through Dealey Plaza, waving East Germany. The diaries to the crowd, and maybe shaking some hands. Zapruder Was there catch a glimpse of the President and decided to record the event using his 8mm home film camera. Zapruder's wife stood below him, watching to be sure he did not fall. As the President's car came around the corner of Dealey Plaza Zapruder calmly filmed what would follow. Suddenly, shots from a gun rang out, but Zapruder kept steadily ftlming. As the President's car appeared from behind a street sign Zapruder somehow captured the exact moment the President was killed. Incredibly, the camera does not shake or pull away. Instead, the camera calmly follows the car as it leaves the Plaza, speeding away to the hospital. Zapruder had just captured the assassination of a President. What Abraham Zapruder, an ordinary citizen, had produced was the ultimate primary source, one that presents the event as it actually happened. Here was undeniable evidence of an event! Still, even this source is interpreted in different ways. Thousands of people have studied this film to determine the angle of the shots fired and to create wild theories on how the President was killed, even suggesting that a team of people killed him. This controversy suggests that even the most reliable source can still be questioned at length. were said to have been part of a large collection of artifacts left behind by Hitler in April 1945, the month of his death. The 62 diaries would reveal the thoughts of the world's most evil dictator, and would help reinterpret history as we know it! Almost immediately, the diaries were a sensation. Newsweek Magazine purchased rights to publish them in the United States. Historians and experts laid their reputations on the line and declared them authentic. One person who insisted they were real was Hugh-Trevor-Roper, a British historian who had been sent by Plime Minister Winston Churchill to confirm Hitler's death. If these people said they were real, what could possibly be the problem? As it tums out, many problems arose. The handwriting experts were sloppy in their work, and did not bother to carefully compare the handwriting to actual documents made by Hitler. Further tests were done on the paper, the glue used in the binding of the books, even the ink, and it was determined that there was simply no way that Hitler could have written these diaries. The paper, glue and irlk were all post-1945, making it impossible for these sources to be primary. Instead, what Stern and Newsweek and thousands of believers had was a secondary source, and a pretty worthless one at that.
YOUR HOMEWORK/EXIT TICKET Directions: For each item below, please write tip" for primary source or tis" for secondary source in the space provided. Each question is worth 2 points. 1. The movie, "Pearl Harbor" 2. The Zapruder film, showing the assassination of John F. Kennedy 3. A newspaper article with the headline, tlattack on America" 4. A history textbook explaining the American Revolution 5. A sound recording of Neil Armstrong landing on the moon 6. A recording of the newscast about the killing of Osama Bin Laden 7. Your backpack 8. The movie, "Titanic" 9. The Hitler Diaries 10. A campaign bumper sticker from 1960 that reads, ((Kennedy for President" 11. You, personally, as a human being 12. A bobble head of President Barack Obama 13. A piece of the World Trade Center 14. A Newsweek magazine cover about the movie, ((Pearl Harbor" 15. A documentary film about the landing of Christopher Columbus Extra Credit: What proved the Hitler Diaries to be a fake? What is the estimated worth of the upside down tljenny" stamp?