Understanding Primary Sources

Which of the following is an example of a primary source?

• A painting of a historical event

• A textbook summary of history

• A movie about the past

• A fictional story about history

What do photographs help us understand?

• What people imagined the past looked like

• What events looked like when they happened

• What people wrote about history

• What artists think about history

Why are paintings considered primary sources?

• They show how people in the past viewed events

• They are made by modern historians

• They only show real photographs

• They are always black and white

What kind of primary source is shown in the image of Martin Luther King Jr.?

• A letter

• A newspaper

• A photograph

• An artifact

Which of the following is NOT a primary source?

• A diary written by a soldier

• A news report about an event

• A drawing made today about an old battle

• A letter from a president to a general

Why are old toys considered artifacts?

• They were used by people in the past

• They are always broken

• They are not real objects

• They are only found in museums

Which primary source could tell us how people communicated long ago?

• A television news report

• A modern email

• An old letter

• A painting of a battle

What does the image of the newspaper tell us?

• Newspapers were only created recently

• Newspapers can be primary sources of information

• Newspapers are not real historical documents

• Newspapers only have pictures, not words

Why is an interview a primary source?

• It is a story made up by historians

• It is recorded directly from a person’s experience

• It is a summary of different events

• It is a fictional retelling of history

Which image best represents an artifact?

• A photograph of an event

• A letter written in the past

• A painting of a historical battle

• An old tool used by people long ago