{"id":19510,"date":"2022-03-07T22:14:47","date_gmt":"2022-03-07T22:14:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dcc.newberry.org\/2022version\/?p=19510"},"modified":"2025-08-29T21:54:50","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T21:54:50","slug":"copy-8-copy-copy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dcc.newberry.org\/?p=19510","title":{"rendered":"Skills Lesson: Types of Sources"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs\" data-active-tab=\"0\"><ul class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__nav-links\"><\/ul>\n<div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__nav-link\"><span class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__title-wrapper\"><a href=\"#\"><span class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__title\">Lesson<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div><div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__tab-content-wrapper\"><div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__tab-content\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Materials \u2013 Available for Download in the Downloads Tab:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A copy of the Skills Lesson<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are three types of sources that you will often find in instructional material: primary, secondary, and tertiary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">History is an investigation, and primary sources are the clues. A primary source is direct evidence of the nature of a time, place, or event. It must have been produced by participants or witnesses to the event, situation, or historical time period being investigated. Primary sources can be written accounts. They can be diaries, letters, or oral histories. They can be legal records. They can be photographs, films, videos, or audio recordings. Artifacts, items produced by humans during a particular era (such as clothing, tools, or vehicles), are also primary sources. There are many different kinds of primary sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is a primary source.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/collections.carli.illinois.edu\/digital\/collection\/nby_eeayer\/id\/27863\/rec\/1\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"828\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/dcc.newberry.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/nby_eeayer_27861_full-828x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19542\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dcc.newberry.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/nby_eeayer_27861_full-828x1024.jpg 828w, https:\/\/dcc.newberry.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/nby_eeayer_27861_full-300x371.jpg 300w, https:\/\/dcc.newberry.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/nby_eeayer_27861_full-600x742.jpg 600w, https:\/\/dcc.newberry.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/nby_eeayer_27861_full-243x300.jpg 243w, https:\/\/dcc.newberry.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/nby_eeayer_27861_full-768x949.jpg 768w, https:\/\/dcc.newberry.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/nby_eeayer_27861_full-1242x1536.jpg 1242w, https:\/\/dcc.newberry.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/nby_eeayer_27861_full-1657x2048.jpg 1657w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 828px) 100vw, 828px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><a href=\"https:\/\/collections.carli.illinois.edu\/digital\/collection\/nby_eeayer\/id\/27863\/rec\/1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">John Reynolds [Proclamation] (1834)<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is a primary source too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/collections.carli.illinois.edu\/digital\/collection\/nby_morriso\/id\/1679\/rec\/120\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"725\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/dcc.newberry.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/nby_morriso_1679_full-725x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Black-and-white image of an elderly Black woman and two young children sitting on a porch.\" class=\"wp-image-19541\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dcc.newberry.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/nby_morriso_1679_full-725x1024.jpg 725w, https:\/\/dcc.newberry.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/nby_morriso_1679_full-300x424.jpg 300w, https:\/\/dcc.newberry.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/nby_morriso_1679_full-600x847.jpg 600w, https:\/\/dcc.newberry.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/nby_morriso_1679_full-213x300.jpg 213w, https:\/\/dcc.newberry.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/nby_morriso_1679_full-768x1084.jpg 768w, https:\/\/dcc.newberry.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/nby_morriso_1679_full-1088x1536.jpg 1088w, https:\/\/dcc.newberry.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/nby_morriso_1679_full-1451x2048.jpg 1451w, https:\/\/dcc.newberry.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/nby_morriso_1679_full-scaled.jpg 1813w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 725px) 100vw, 725px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><a href=\"https:\/\/collections.carli.illinois.edu\/digital\/collection\/nby_morriso\/id\/1679\/rec\/120\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Helen Balfour Morrison, &#8220;Anna Bell and children on porch in Sugar Hill, Kentucky&#8221; (c. 1935-1947)<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">    <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A lot of things that people think of as primary sources are actually secondary sources. A newspaper article is a primary source only if the person who wrote it is reporting what they saw and heard. If they are reporting what other people told them, the article is a secondary source. But direct quotes from witnesses that are included in the article may be primary source material. In history, secondary sources usually comment on, evaluate, or synthesize primary sources. They include biographies, books, and magazine articles about a particular subject, even your aunt telling you what your grandmother told her about a family event or situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is a secondary source, an excerpt from the book <em>The Great Chicago Fire<\/em>, by Robert Cromie. He got the information to write this from primary sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"274\" height=\"206\" src=\"https:\/\/dcc.newberry.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Cromie_GreatChicagoFire.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19954\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">From Robert Cromie, <em>The Great Chicago Fire<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The third kind of source is called a tertiary source. Your textbooks are tertiary sources. So are encyclopedias and dictionaries. These books get their information from the best secondary sources they can find. Wikipedia is a tertiary source, and it has very strict rules to keep people from posting anything that isn\u2019t confirmed by primary and secondary sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There\u2019s not a really clear line between tertiary and secondary sources. Most of the time, it\u2019s really not important to make the distinction. What\u2019s really important is to know whether something is a primary source, and what the source of information is about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This map, for example, is a primary source of information. But it\u2019s not a source of information about what this part of the world looked like in 1613. It just tells us what people <em>thought<\/em> it looked like. And that\u2019s important information, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/VaultGraff1862\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"876\" src=\"https:\/\/dcc.newberry.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Vault_Graff_1862-1024x876.jpg\" alt=\"Hand-drawn map of central and eastern North America labeled in French.\" class=\"wp-image-19540\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dcc.newberry.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Vault_Graff_1862-1024x876.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/dcc.newberry.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Vault_Graff_1862-300x257.jpg 300w, https:\/\/dcc.newberry.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Vault_Graff_1862-600x513.jpg 600w, https:\/\/dcc.newberry.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Vault_Graff_1862-768x657.jpg 768w, https:\/\/dcc.newberry.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Vault_Graff_1862-1536x1314.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/dcc.newberry.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Vault_Graff_1862-2048x1752.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/VaultGraff1862\" target=\"_blank\">Louis Hennepin, <em>A Map of a Large Country Newly Discovered in the Northern America<\/em> (1698)<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__nav-link\"><span class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__title-wrapper\"><a href=\"#\"><span class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__title\">Downloads<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div><div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__tab-content-wrapper\"><div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__tab-content\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Download the following materials below: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A copy of the Skills Lesson<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div data-wp-interactive=\"core\/file\" class=\"wp-block-file\"><object data-wp-bind--hidden=\"!state.hasPdfPreview\" hidden class=\"wp-block-file__embed\" data=\"https:\/\/dcc.newberry.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/SkillsMinilesson_TypesofSources_Download2.pdf\" type=\"application\/pdf\" style=\"width:100%;height:600px\" aria-label=\"Embed of Download a copy of this Skills Lesson here..\"><\/object><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-c3181bed-5e9d-44be-9955-13df0a7d6e50\" href=\"https:\/\/dcc.newberry.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/SkillsMinilesson_TypesofSources_Download2.pdf\">Download a copy of this Skills Lesson here.<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/dcc.newberry.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/SkillsMinilesson_TypesofSources_Download2.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-c3181bed-5e9d-44be-9955-13df0a7d6e50\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19540,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[124,132,148],"tags":[165,166],"class_list":["post-19510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cm","category-elementary","category-skillslesson","tag-us-history","tag-world-history"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":6}},"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/dcc.newberry.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Vault_Graff_1862-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dcc.newberry.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dcc.newberry.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dcc.newberry.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dcc.newberry.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dcc.newberry.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19510"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/dcc.newberry.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19510\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24574,"href":"https:\/\/dcc.newberry.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19510\/revisions\/24574"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dcc.newberry.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dcc.newberry.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dcc.newberry.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dcc.newberry.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}