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What is a Primary Source?
Primary and secondary sources refer to the way researchers use and evaluate evidence. When verifying an event or locating documentation concerning a person or place, researchers seek to find the most reliable evidence available. In a process similar to criminal investigation where evidence is weighed for its authenticity and reliability, researchers must evaluate sources before drawing conclusions. Ideally the best type of source material comes from a person or process that is closest in time or proximity to the event, person or place under study. Usually the creator of this type of primary source is an eyewitness who left a record for personal or procedural purposes. Reliability of sources declines as one get farther in time and proximity and as the source become more self conscious concerning subsequent study by researchers. Secondary sources are completely removed in proximity from the original event, person or place but seek to provide an interpretation based on primary sources. There is a continuum from primary to secondary sources, and many sources show elements of both. The following list describes and evaluates some of the more common sources one may find while engaged in research.
Original documents and manuscripts. Usually regarded as the most authentic of sources, these materials are often found in archival repositories but may be just as likely to turn up in the family attic. They may include correspondence, office memos, government forms, day books, diaries, and a host of other formats. Usually the creator of an original document will have been close to the event, person or place under study, but the researcher should determine whether the author was in fact a reliable eyewitness or participant. An original document is not always written, it could be a tape recording that captures the voice of an eyewitness. History is replete with forgeries and altered records, so the researcher must also evaluate the internal and external attributes of the document to determine authenticity.
Photography. "Pictures tell a thousand words" and capture images of the actual event, person or place. While photography may seem to be an obvious primary source, it is important to question the perspective of the person holding the camera and to ask what was left out of the photograph. The subjects in photographs often are posed, so the user must attempt to determine the original purpose for creating the photograph. The visual impact of pictures often cause researchers to suspend judgment, but in an era where digital alteration is simple, pictures must be approached with some skepticism.
Newspapers and other news media. Newspapers usually represent a step away in reliability because the reporting is being filtered through a number of interpretive and editorial processes. The reporter may be flat wrong in interpreting events or have a personal mission that clouds the perspective of objectivity. Most news media are profit-making enterprises; hence, the researcher must decide if the weight given certain types of reporting is done "to sell newspapers" or attract advertisers. Conversely, newspapers may be the only available source for information on persons, places and events for which no other type of record exists. Newspapers represent one of the richest sources of information but remain underutilized because their vastness inhibits access.
Memoirs, reminiscences and autobiographies. People, from the famous to the obscure, often choose to set down their memories. At times these are personal documents that were not designed to be read by others and hence may be evaluated as a primary source. More commonly, this type of source was created to explain and justify a person's participation in certain events. They are often many years removed from the original events and represent an attempt to control the person's reputation for posterity. Researchers find memoirs and other self-conscious materials useful to understand the mind of the author, but these sources are less reliable as descriptions of actual events, persons or places.
Maps. Like photography, maps have strong visual impact and are usually seen as authentic descriptions of places. Unfortunately, mapmakers are fallible or have hidden agendas in portraying features on the ground. More that one war has been fought over erroneous information on maps.
Printed Documents and Documents on Microfilm. Researchers can find a vast array of official documents and personal manuscripts in published formats or reproduced on microfilm. These publications save time and expense by bringing together primary sources scattered in various repositories. For the researcher, evaluating printed editions should include some understanding of the editorial criteria used in selecting and transcribing the originals. Microfilm (or now digital) editions also provide surrogates to the originals that capture much of the sense of using an original. With both types one should always ask, "What has been omitted from this edition?"
Quotations and excerpts. Many secondary source works may include transcribed portions of original documents to illustrate points in the narrative. It is probably not a good idea to directly appropriate these as primary sources because they have been taken out of context. However, quotations and excerpts are a good way to alert the researcher to previously unknown sources that should be examined in the original, if possible.
Biographies, scholarly monographs, reference works. These are the purest forms of secondary sources. Researchers usually consult these to gain background information and to determine the state of scholarship on a particular subject. Checking the footnotes and bibliographies in secondary sources is a method for locating important primary sources.
