PRIMARY SOURCES ON THE INTERNET
What are primary sources?
Primary sources are original records created at the time
historical events occurred or well after events in the form of memoirs and oral
histories. Primary sources may include letters, manuscripts, diaries, journals,
newspapers, speeches, interviews, memoirs, documents produced by government
agencies such as Congress or the Office of the President, photographs, audio
recordings, moving pictures or video recordings, research data, and objects or
artifacts such as works of art or ancient roads, buildings, tools, and weapons
WHY USE PRIMARY SOURCES
·
Encourage
critical thinking
·
Develop
knowledge and analytical skills
·
Support facts
·
Infer
information not directly stated
·
Debate
different interpretations of the past
·
To understand
different perspectives
ON-LINE PRIMARY SOURCES
The traditional use of sources available in print and microfilm continues to be the foundation for research, but in some cases documents, letters, maps, photographs of ancient artifacts and other primary material are available online in different formats from free websites or subscription services on the internet. Users of primary sources have always needed to examine their sources critically, but now with the proliferation of electronic resources from a wide variety of web site producers, evaluation is more important than ever before. Users of web resources must now consider the authenticity of documents, what person or organization is the internet provider, and whether the electronic version serves their needs.
NYPL Digital Gallery: A
searchable database presenting tens of thousands of digital images from The
Library's collections including illuminated manuscripts, historical maps, rare
prints and photographs, and more.
Making of
http://www.hti.umich.edu/m/moagrp/
American Memory: American
Memory provides free and open access through the Internet to written and spoken
words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music
that document the American experience. It is a digital record of American
history and creativity. These materials, from the collections of the Library of
Congress and other institutions, chronicle historical events, people, places,
and ideas that continue to shape
The National Security
Archive: combines a unique range of
functions in one non governmental, non-profit institution. The Archive is
simultaneously a research institute on international affairs, a library and
archive of declassified
http://www2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/index.html
Electronic Briefing
Books: National Security
Archive Electronic Briefing Books provide online access to critical
declassified records on issues including
http://www2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/index.html
Disability Rights and Independent Living Movement: Discover our rich collection of primary sources exploring the social and political history of the disability movement from the 1960s to the present.
http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/collections/drilm/
Repositories of Primary Sources: A listing of over 5000 websites
describing holdings of manuscripts, archives, rare books, historical
photographs, and other primary sources for the research scholar.
http://www.uidaho.edu/special-collections/Other.Repositories.html
Smithonian Digital Collections (science):
http://web4.si.edu/sil/digitalcollections/browse_results_selected.cfm
The Internet Archive:The Internet Archive is building a digital library of
Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. Like a paper
library, we provide free access to researchers, historians, scholars, and the
general public.
Sounds of History : Welcome to Sounds of History, a collection of recorded sounds that define the twentieth century (with a few lagniappes from the 19th and the 21st The Sampler Room offers some annotated highlights from the other rooms, listed chronologically. The Main Listening Room houses the bulk of the collection, listed in order of speaker's name. The Churchill and Roosevelt room holds numerous speeches by those two extraordinary statesmen. And We interrupt this program... is where you'll find radio announcers reading historic news bulletins. There are over three hundred recordings here; some are brief sound bytes and others last over an hour. So whether your taste runs to Thomas Edison reciting Mary Had a Little Lamb or to oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Roe v. Wade, be prepared to enjoy some fascinating listening.
http://www.soundsofhistory.com
Primary Source Digital Archives and
Collections: Documents, images, recordings,
diaries, letters, drawings, and memoirs, created by those who participated in
or witnessed the events of the past, tell us something that even the
best-written article or book cannot convey. The effective use of primary
sources exposes us to important historical events and concepts, and engages our
higher order thought processes of analysis, evaluation, synthesis and problem
solving.
http://dewey.chs.chico.k12.ca.us/primary.html
National Public Radio
Programs and Schedules
Helen Harper and
Christine Stiel
January 15, 2005