Thinking like a Historian

Original records produced by the people who participated in and witnessed the past.

• Primary Source

• Secondary Source

Documents, texts, images, and objects about an event created by someone who was not present at the time of the event.

• Primary Source

• Secondary Source

The paragraph in your history textbook about the Plains Indians and their hunting methods.

• Primary Source

• Secondary Source

An article in Sports Illustrated Magazine talking about the history of the sport of baseball.

• Primary Source

• Secondary Source

An old photograph of your great-grandparents' wedding reception.

• Primary Source

• Secondary Source

A source that was used or created by someone with firsthand experience of an event.

• Primary Source

• Secondary Source

A collection of diary entries from women who traveled along the Santa Fe Trail printed in a book in 2007.

• Primary Source

• Secondary Source

An article of Wikipedia about President Abraham Lincoln.

• Primary Source

• Secondary Source

Which type of source do you think is more reliable?

• Primary Source

• Secondary Source