Using Primary Sources in the Classroom

Through primary sources students confront two essential facts in studying history. First, the record of historical events reflects the personal, social, political, or economic points of view of the participants. Second, students bring to the sources their own biases, created by their own personal situations and the social environments in which they live. As students use these sources, they realize that history exists through interpretation--and tentative interpretation at that. Primary sources fascinate students because they are real and they are personal; history is humanized through them. Using original sources, students touch the lives of the people about whom history is written. They participate in human emotions and in the values and attitudes of the past. These human expressions provide history with color and excitement and link students directly to its cast of characters. Interpreting historical sources helps students to analyze and evaluate contemporary sources--newspaper reports, television and radio programs, and advertising. By using primary sources, students learn to recognize how a point of view and a bias affect evidence, what contradictions and other limitations exist within a given source, and to what extent sources are reliable. Essential among these skills is the ability to understand and make appropriate use of many sources of information. Development of these skills is important not only to historical research but also to a citizenship where people are able to evaluate the information needed to maintain a free society.

Using Primary Sources to the Best Advantage

Students must use the primary source as a historical source. He or she must analyze its content, assess its significance, and in the process become his or her own historian. This form of historical instruction should provide students with the skills of a historian: posing significant questions; locating sources; subjecting the data to critical analysis; synthesizing diverse materials; and expressing the results in a readable, convincing way. In the development of these skills, a substantial amount of class time should be devoted to the task. The effort should be continuous and it should permit work on an individual basis.

Disadvantages of Using Primary Sources

The method is time consuming Students need to gain a general understanding of historical development which sources alone cannot provide. The documents are too numerous. The quantity of original materials to be used can be restricted. Sources can be one-sided and thus prevent a full consideration of opposing views. Primary Sources supplement but cannot replace the textbook/lecture.

Where to Find Primary Sources

To introduce students to primary sources, you might begin with materials that they themselves possess, such as birth certificates, social security cards, passports, or drivers' licenses. What do these sources tell us about the individuals and the society in which they live? How might these sources be used by historians? Consider how school, employment, medical, and family records could be used to develop generalizations about twentieth-century student life. Beyond personal records, there are a variety of other sources available. Where can you locate documentation on your neighborhood or community? Your sources can be both governmental and private: Federal census figures, newspapers, local government files, personal diaries, and interviews with long-time residents. In most cities and towns, local historical groups, preservation societies, and museums serve as excellent starting points for classes locating documentary materials about local communities. On the provincial level, historical societies, archives, and museums are valuable

depositories for useful primary materials. Many of these agencies offer specific programs for high school students, and many would welcome suggestions for joint projects. Local resources and teacher imagination are enough. When students and teachers participate together in the exciting and evolving process of historical inquiry, returns, in terms of knowledge, skills and interest, can be great and lasting.

Adapted Sources:
National Archives and Records Administration, History in the Raw http://www.archives.gov/education/history-inthe-raw.html Tuning In: Primary Sources in the Teaching of History, Gerald A. Danzer and Mark Newman (World History Project, University of Chicago, 1991), pp. 5, 7-9, and 11.

Creative Ideas for Using Primary Sources in the Classroom

Exhibition Curator
Choose a theme. Create a classroom exhibition or bulletin board to explore the theme with a variety of primary sources. Use oral history quotations for the labels.

Gallery Walk
Post a series of primary sources on the wall with a set of questions at each station. Move from station to station in groups to answer the questions at each station. Continue the walk until everyone has had a chance to work with all the sources.

Information Age
Some cultures have relied on oral tradition as the primary means of communication; others, letter writing; some email. Investigate how people have recorded and shared information in other times and places. How do you communicate? What evidence will remain for historians of the future? Illustrate your findings on a map or timeline.

Newspaper Reporter
Extrapolate the five "W" questions from a primary source. Use the answers to write a lead paragraph for a news story.

Time Capsule
Create a time capsule to represent life today. Select objects, documents, pictures and other sources that could teach people in the future about what life is like today.

"What is it?" Game

Create a source box filled with primary and secondary resources. Sort them into primary and secondary sources. This activity can be done as a relay race.

Who is it?
Ask a group of teachers to create a bag of primary sources from their lives (one per teacher). Students can work in groups to match the bag with the teacher and draw conclusions about the person based on the sources. Share and justify the conclusions. Use this as a way to introduce the different types of primary sources.

DOCUMENTS
A Family Manuscript Bring in a diary, letter or other document from home. Examine each to personalize and find out more about a particular event or time period.

Document Comparison
Identify the purpose of specific documents and compare them to one another (e.g. Charter of Rights and Freedoms, British North America Act, etc.).

English Professor
Look at an old document (a letter, diary, etc.) as an example of writing. Critique it. Is it an example of good writing? Grade it according to today's standards. How do you think language has changed?

Fact vs. Fiction

Use primary sources to authenticate the information and storyline in a work of historical fiction. The book's bibliography will provide sources useful for authentication. How would you change the novel to make it more historically accurate?

Family Tree
Interview family members and examine family documents (e.g. your baby book) to construct a family tree.

Found Poem
Create a "found poem" with excerpts from an oral history or document. Everyone should work with the same source. Ask each student to jot down the four most poignant phrases from the source on large strips of paper. Work together in groups to combine the phrases into a poem. If more than one person selects the same line, it might be used as a title or refrain.

Letters Home
Read and analyze letters about a topic from two opposing viewpoints. Describe the differences and similarities in the information and the opinions they convey.

Eyewitness News
Choose an event or time period that all students have witnessed. Ask each person to write an account of the event. Compare them to find the differences and similarities in accounts. See how differing perspectives affect how people view and record an event.

Voices
Read a speech from the past to introduce a new unit.

Pen Pals
Explore the value of letters as primary sources by writing to a pen pal. Explore ways to use the Internet to partner with a class in another region of the country or the world on a pen pal program.

An Ensemble of Voices
Divide into groups "expert groups" and assign each group a source with a different account of the same event or time period to study using a series of guide questions. Then move to "discussion groups;" each discussion group should include a student from each one of the "expert groups." Share information from the different primary sources and, as a group, develop generalizations about the event or time period using all sources.

Voice from the Past

To help students decipher the handwriting in old letters, diaries, and other documents, make a tape recording of the document you will be studying. As students listen to the recording, have them follow the wording of the document.

Walk a Mile in Another Person's Shoes

Choose a person, country, or idea to represent in a discussion of a particular issue. Examine a primary source from that person, country, or idea and use it to prepare a position statement for a debate, talk show or presentation.

What's Your Line?

Choose a quotation or idea from a famous figure in history to stimulate a position-taking activity or a debate on a particular issue in history.

MAPS Cartographer's Comparison

Compare a recent and an historic map of a particular place to see how the place has evolved over time.

Walking to School
Create a primary source to document your own community. Make a map of your walk or ride to school. What do you pass along the way? How far do you travel? What route do you take? What are the strengths and weaknesses of maps as sources of information about the past?

Adapted Sources:
Encountering Maryland's Past: A Teacher's Guide to Interpreting Primary Sources A Primary Source Kit from the Maryland Historical Society Using Primary Sources in the Classroom: Creative Ideas for Maryland Teachers

Types of Resources
Primary
Conference proceedings - Scholars and researchers getting together and presenting their latest ideas and findings Books - Extensive and detailed discussions of a particular topic or set of topics, written by the scholars and researchers who came up with the ideas or discovered the findings. Journal articles - Brief, specific analyses of particular aspects of a topic, written by the scholars and researchers who came up with the ideas or discovered the findings. Lab reports - Experiments, observations, etc. Historical documents - Official papers, maps, treaties, etc. First-person accounts - Diaries, memoirs, letters, interviews, speeches, oral history Recordings - audio, video, photographic Artifacts - manufactured items such as clothing, furniture, tools, buildings, toys, religious objects, architecture of a culture Newspapers - Some types of articles, e.g. stories on a breaking issue, or journalists reporting the results of their investigations. Government publications - Census statistics, economic data, court reports, etc. Internet - Web sites that publish the author's findings or research; e.g. a professor's home page listing research results. Manuscript collections - Collected writings, notes, letters, diaries, and other unpublished works. Archives - Records (minutes of meetings, purchase invoices, financial statements, etc.) of an organization (e.g. The Nature Conservancy), institution (e.g. Wesleyan University), business, or other group entity (even the Grateful Dead has an archivist on staff). Ads/Broadsides - Billboards, magazine inserts, and posters. Laws, Inventories, Birth/Death certificates, Wills, Photographs

Secondary
Books - Extensive and detailed analyses by scholars providing criticisms, commentaries, and interpretations of primary ideas and findings. Journal articles - Brief, specific analyses, criticisms, commentaries, and interpretations of particular aspects of primary ideas and findings. Newspapers - Articles which report on earlier findings, or offer commentary or opinions. Internet - Web sites that comment on earlier findings or research

Tertiary
Encyclopedias - Articles providing introductory or summary information; coverage can be general (e.g. Encyclopedia Britannica) or subject-specific (e.g. Encyclopedia of Sociology). Dictionaries - Definitions or brief summaries of terms, ideas, etc.; coverage can be general (e.g. Webster's, Random House) or subject-specific (e.g. Dictionary of Cell Biology). Almanacs - Good for concise factual information, e.g. statistics, lists Directories - Lists of people or organizations, with addresses, affiliations, etc.; useful guides to finding primary source material Atlases - Maps of population, economic, historical, political, geological, biological, climatological, etc. information. Indexes - Lists of sources on a subject or set of subjects; once you have some key terms for your topic, use indexes to find secondary and primary sources.

Adapted Source:
The Truth is out there but where? The Road to Research, Wesleyan University library http://www.wesleyan.edu/library/tut/rst/index.html

Reading a Primary Source

Historians get their information from two different kinds of sources: primary and secondary. Primary sources are first hand sources; secondary sources are second-hand sources. For example, suppose there had been a car accident. The description of the accident which a witness gives to the police is a primary source because it comes from someone actually there at the time. The story in the newspaper the next day is a secondary source because the reporter who wrote the story did not actually witness it. The reporter is presenting a way of understanding the accident or an interpretation. Primary Sources do not speak for themselves, they have to be interpreted. That is, we can't always immediately understand what a primary source means, especially if it is from a culture significantly different from our own. It is therefore necessary to try to understand what it means and to figure out what the source can tell us about the past. To help you interpret primary sources, you should think about these questions as you examine the source:

Place the source in its historical context

Who wrote it? What do you know about the author? Where and when was it written? Why was it written? To what audience is it addressed? What do you know about this audience? What kind of work is it? What was its purpose? What are the important conventions and traditions governing this kind of source? Of what legal, political, religious or philosophical traditions is it a part? What are the key words in the source and what do they mean? What point is the author trying to make? Summarize the thesis. What evidence does the author give to support the thesis? What assumptions underlay the argument? What values does the source reflect? What problems does it address? Can you relate these problems to the historical situation? What action does the author expect as a result of this work? Who is to take this action? How does the source motivate that action? How typical is this source for this period? How widely was this source circulated? What problems, assumptions, arguments, ideas and values, if any, does it share with other sources from this period? What other evidence can you find to corroborate your conclusions?

Classify the source

Understand the source

Evaluate the source as a source of historical information

Be Your Own Interpreter

It is very tempting in a course of this kind to use the textbook as a source of interpretations. If you encounter a primary source which you don't entirely understand it seems easiest to look up the proper interpretation in the text, rather than trying to figure it out for yourself.

This process will take some patience, some imagination, some practice and a lot of hard work on your part. But you will be developing an important, transferable skill and also the tools and attitudes you need to develop to think on your own. Adapted Source: North Park University: Using Historical Sources

Reading a Secondary Source

There is a strong temptation in a class to believe that the answers to all the questions are found in the textbook and that the object of the course is to learn the textbook. The following is designed to help you use the textbook more efficiently and effectively.

Three ways to use a secondary source

As a collection of facts
Use a secondary source if you need to find a particular piece of information quickly. You might need to know, for example, when Ghengis Khan lived, in what year the cotton gin was invented or the population of London in 1648. If your interests are focused on one subject, but you need to know something about what else was going on at that time or what happened earlier, you can use a secondary source to find the background material you might need. For example, if you are writing about Luther's 95 Theses, you should use a secondary source to help you understand the Catholic Church in the Renaissance. Since the facts do not speak for themselves, it is necessary for the historian to make give them some shape and to put them in an order people can understand. This is called an interpretation. Many secondary sources provide not only information, but a way of making sense of that information. You should use a secondary source if you wish to understand how an historian makes sense of a particular event, person, or trend.

As a source of background material

As an interpretation

Using interpretations
Since the facts do not speak for themselves, it is necessary for the historian to make give them some shape and to put them in an order people can understand. This is called an interpretation. Many secondary sources provide not only information, but a way of making sense of that information. You should use a secondary source if you wish to understand how an historian makes sense of a particular event, person, or trend. One of the most important tasks in reading a secondary source is find and understanding that particular author's interpretation. How does that particular author put the facts together so that they make sense?

Finding the interpretation

Good authors want to communicate their interpretation. Because the reason for writing a book or article is to communicate something to another person, a good author will make the interpretation easy to find.

In an essay
In an essay, particularly a short one, an author will often state the interpretation as part of the thesis statement. The thesis statement is the summary of what the author is going say in the essay. The thesis statement is usually found at the end of the introductory section or in the conclusion.

In a book
In a longer work, such as a book, the author will very likely have many thesis statements, one or more for each section or chapter of the book. The thesis for the book as a whole will often be found either in the introduction or in the conclusion. The thesis for individual chapters is often found in the first or last

paragraph. Topic sentences of paragraphs will also often have important clues as to the author's interpretation. It is often helpful, particularly if you are interested in the author's interpretation to "gut" a book: Read only the first and last chapters in their entirety; for all of the other chapters, read only the first and last paragraphs. If this is a well written book, this should give you a fairly good idea of the author's point of view. An interpretation is the how a historian makes sense of some part of the past. Like a good story, well done history reveals not only the past, but something about the present as well. Great historians help us to see aspects of the past and about the human condition which we would not be able to find on our own. Historians often disagree on interpretations Some facts are ambiguous. Historians ask different questions about the past. Historians have different values and come to the material with different beliefs about the world. For these and other reasons, historians often arrive at different interpretations of the same event. For example, many historians see the French Revolution as the result of beliefs in liberty and equality; other historians see the French Revolution as the result of the economic demands of a rising middle class. It is, therefore, important to be able to critically evaluate an historian's interpretation.

The importance of the interpretation.

Adapted Source:
North Park University: Using Historical Sources

Evaluating an interpretation
A. The Argument
1. What historical problem is the author addressing? 2. What is the thesis? 3. How is the thesis arrived at? o a. What type of history book is it? o b. What historical methods or techniques does the author use? o c. What evidence is presented? o d. Can you identify a school of interpretation? o 4. What sources are used? 4. What sources are used?

B. Evaluation
1. Did the author present a convincing argument? o a. Does the evidence support the thesis? o b. Does the evidence in fact prove what the author claims it proves? o c. Has the author made any errors of fact? 2. Does the author use questionable methods or techniques? 3. What questions remain unanswered? 4. Does the author have a polemical purpose? o a. If so, does it interfere with the argument? o b. If not, might there be a hidden agenda?

C. The Debate
1. How does this book compare to others written on this or similar topics? 2. How do the theses differ? 3. Why do the theses differ? o a. Do they use the same or different sources? o b. Do they use these sources in the same way?

o c. Do they use the same methods or techniques? o d. Do they begin from the same or similar points of view? o e. Are these works directed at the same or similar audience? 4. When were the works written? 5. Do the authors have different backgrounds? 6. Do they differ in their political, philosophical, ethical, cultural, or religious assumptions?

Lesson 1: Conducting An Historical Inventory

Students analyze a local historical inventory to make inferences about local community life. (Adapted from Historical Records in the Classroom) Subjects: Social Studies, Language Arts Grade Levels: 6-12 Time Frame: 2 class periods

Materials Needed:
Inventory of individuals/organizations from your own community Personal Inventory Sheet Inventory Detective Sheet

Learning Objectives: Students will:

1. 2. 3. 4. Analyze a 19th century document and make observations and inferences about a person/organization based on the inventory of personal possessions. Understand that possessions reflect our lifestyle and culture. Compare the simplicity of life in the early centuries with modern material culture. Compare items from the past to the present.

Procedure:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Divide students into groups and give each student a historical inventory from their community and an Inventory Detective worksheet. Ask students to complete the worksheet and share their ideas with the class. Hand out the Personal Inventory worksheet and direct students to complete it for homework. Collect the Personal Inventories. Read one aloud to the class and see if they can guess to whom the list belongs. Have students compare and contrast both inventory lists.

Extension:
Have students create an inventory of one room in their home. Write an epitaph for the individual who had an inventory. Write a play using people mentioned in the inventory. Compare the prices recorded for at least 20 items listed in the inventory to retail prices of the same items today.

INVENTORY DETECTIVE
After studying the inventory, give as much information as possible about the person who owned the items listed. Example: occupation, type of land owned, dealings with other people, values, beliefs, status, quality of life , hobbies, interests, personality, etc.

Adapted Source: Historical Records in the Classroom

PERSONAL INVENTORY
From your room, choose 10 - 12 items that are important to you or tell something about who you are. Be sure the items listed are things that you are willing to share with the class. 1. ___________________________________ 2. ___________________________________ 3. ___________________________________ 4. ___________________________________ 5. ___________________________________ 6. ___________________________________ 7. ___________________________________ 8. ___________________________________ 9. ___________________________________ 10. ___________________________________ 11. ___________________________________ 12. ___________________________________ Adapted Source: Historical Records in the Classroom

Lesson 2: Historical Maps

Students utilize historical maps to infer and interpret information from their community. (Adapted from Historical Records in the Classroom) Subjects: Social Studies Grade Levels: 4 - 12 Time Frame: 2-3 class periods

Materials Needed:
Historical and current map of your locality, transit/street maps Historical Maps worksheet Camera, film and overhead transparencies

Learning Objectives: Students will:

1. 2. 3. Compare and contrast information on historical and current maps. Trace and map the growth of their community. Create a photographic display showing the development of their community during the time period represented by the two maps.

Procedure:
1. Divide students into groups and ask students to select one off the following activities depending on their area of interest: Follow the route of a city bus by locating the properties of those named on the historical map. Highlight these on a copy of the map. From the sites listed on the transit map, describe what the community might have been like over 100 years ago.

Choose a section of the historical street map to enlarge on an overhead projector. On a transparency identify the existing buildings by using a red marker. Overlay another transparency and add the buildings in blue marker that currently exist in the same area. Illustrate the changes by demonstrating the results to the class. Take a photo expedition into the community to photograph historical and modern structures. Label each photo and attach it to the appropriate location on the historical transit/street map and exhibit to the class.

HISTORICAL MAPS Directions:

Answer the following questions by analyzing the historical map of your community and comparing it to a modern day map.

ABOUT THE HISTORICAL MAP

1. 2. 3. 4. In what year was this map drawn? Locate and identify the scale on the map. What kind of information do you find on the old map? Do you recognize any names on the map? Which ones? Why?

ABOUT THE MODERN MAP

1. 2. 3. In what year was this map drawn? Locate and identify the scale on the modern map. What kind of information do you find on the modern map?

COMPARING THE MAPS

1. How are the historical and modern maps alike? 2. How are they different? 3. What have you discovered about your community by comparing the two maps? Adapted Source: Historical Records in the Classroom

How To Interpret a Map

Title of Map: Date Created: Mapmaker: Collection of: Place shown on Map: 1. Which of the following map elements can you find on the map? Title, legend, compass, author (mapmaker), scale, date 2. What does the map tell you about the place and time it was created? 3. What is the purpose of this map? 4. Compare your map to a current map of the same area. Record information and characteristics that the two have in common and information unique to each below.

Source Map

On Both Maps

Current Map

What is the most important historical information this source provides? Be sure to cite specific evidence from the source. Created by the Maryland Historical Society

Lesson 3: Diary Of An Individual

Provides a glimpse of life and perspectives from the past. (Adapted from Historical Records in the Classroom) Subjects: Social Studies, Language Arts Grade Levels: 4 - 9 Time Frame: 4-8 class periods

Materials Needed:
Copy of a local individual's diary Diaries worksheet

Learning Objectives: Students will:

1. 2. 3. Gather information about rural life from diary entries. Compare and contrast daily life in the past to life today. Write diary entries that reflect a young person's life today.

Procedure:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Distribute a copy of the individual's diary and a worksheet to each student. Identify and define unfamiliar terminology. Direct students to complete the worksheet by analyzing the entries from the individual's diary. Conduct a class discussion sharing information gathered. Instruct students to begin writing their own diaries for the next 5 days. Have them include information about their daily lives.

Extension:
Ask students: If someone found their diary 100 years from now, what would they want to tell people of the future about a student's life today? Share, collect and keep in a historical school time capsule.

DIARIES
Directions: Complete the following worksheet by gathering answers from the diary entry.

Family:
members, roles, values, structure, daily living type of chores, assigning of chores, when completed

Chores:

Education:
subjects, private/public, systems, teachers, students type, location, wage, working conditions, income, leisure time and opportunities art, literature, music, paintings, poetry, recreation attitudes, climate, land fertility, water resources, location, terrain, geographic region, resources, land, crops, physical geography living conditions, size, materials for housing, neighborhood, physical/social features towns, cities, forts, living conditions, geographic factors, population, residential patterns experiences, people, places and things practices, churches, groups, beliefs in the community, quality of life business, leisure activities, residential, industries, markets, factors for growth, finance, social mobility development, banks, schools, hospitals, social agencies ports, major items, hazards/rewards, price of goods, shipping, railroads rights, opportunities, obligations heritage, beliefs, values, folklore, fashion, customs daily lives, participation, roles, physical devastation, economic hardships, impact on property, use of technology, technological innovations developments, affects, importance, uses, farming practices, communication, innovations types, cost, travel time, trails, roads, bridges class distinctions, systems, workforce, unions, owners, movements standard of living, quality of life What were the behaviour of men, women and children during that era? What was it like to be a teenager in this society? What role did economic interests play in the development of family life and its relationship to the community? To what extent did family roles, values, and structure change during that era?

Work: Interests: Gender Roles: Environment during that era: Place of residence:

Urban/Rural setting: Daily Life: Religion: Economic status: Economy: Institutions: Trade: Legal: Culture: War: Technology:

Transportation Labor: Health: DIARY QUESTIONS

1. 2. 3. 4.

5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26.

How did the community view single women? Were women justified in seeking new roles and rights in society? To what extent were women confined to the social conventions of that era? To what extent were the lives of farm children and urban children different? What impact did transportation have on the pattern of economic development in the region? How did the perspectives of industrial workers and employers differ? Would life in a city of that time have been more or less satisfying than life in a city today? What issues facing today's cities are similar to those of the mid 19th century? What was the social composition of the city's population in terms of ethnicity, religion, class and race? Were some major problems facing the city in that period? What problems did immigrants face and what opportunities were afforded to them during that era? What jobs were open to new immigrants? What opportunities did immigrants seek? How did immigrants help contribute to the development of the city, province, country? How were gender roles defined? Did gender roles differ among different cultural groups? What role prevented women from taking an active role in society? How did the public at large view women who held leadership roles? What responsibilities did women take on at home during the war? What new occupations were open to women during the war? To what extent did the war change gender roles and traditional attitudes toward women in the workforce? What contributed to the rapid economic growth of the city?

Lesson 4: City Census

Students utilize census information to infer and interpret information from their community (Adapted from Historical Records in the Classroom) Subjects: Social Studies, Language Arts Grade Levels: 4 - 9 Time Frame: 2-3 class periods

Materials Needed:
Census of your area Family Census Data worksheet Paper and markers

Learning Objectives: Students will:

1. 2. 3. 4. Understand that there are many cultural, economic and environmental changes that occur over a period of time. Demonstrate the ability to gather, label, categorize and analyze information from a census. Create a modern class census modelled after an historical one. Predict future changes in our lifestyles for the year 2101.

Procedure:
1. 2. 3. Distribute the local census and discuss the purpose of a census, the categories on the census, and any other pertinent data. Ask student to complete the Family Census worksheet using present day information. Direct students to create a large-scale version of a census on paper in which they will record the modern day information collected on the worksheets. Categories should be similar to the historical census.

Have the class compare and contrast the information on the old census to the present day class census to determine what changes have occurred. Instruct students to draw conclusions about changes in the following categories: Occupations in general Occupations of women First Names Countries of Origin Number of persons in household Any other categories 5. Instruct students to create and complete a census form for one hundred years into the future. Discuss what changes there might be in the way we live or the way we count our population.

4.

Extension:
Collect a sample of census records from your area from at least three different time periods and discuss their contents. Have students work in pairs and assign each group a particular geographical area and year to research. Have student keep a tally of certain characteristics e.g. immigrants. After groups have completed their research, create a chart tracking the patterns in the area that were discovered.

FAMILY CENSUS DATA Explanation:

This family census is being taken to compare information from a historical census with information from a present day census. Family is being defined as all those who share one household. 1. List members of your household from oldest to youngest. Name Name Name Name Name Name Age Age Age Age Age Age Occupation Occupation Occupation Occupation Occupation Occupation

2. Were any members of your household born in another country? If so, who and where were they born? 3. Are any members of your household not citizens of Canada? If so, who are they? 4. List any information you need to complete the class census.

Adapted Source: Historical Records in the Classroom

Primary vs. Secondary Sources: A Comparison

Examine a historical event by looking at both a primary and a secondary source related to it. Record the information you find in each below. Primary Source Who? What? When? Where? Why? Who? What? When? Where? Why? Secondary Source

Adjectives used to describe the person or event: Adjectives used to describe the person or event: Summary of the event/person: Strengths of the source: Weaknesses of the source: Summary of the event/person: Strengths of the source: Weaknesses of the source:

Which source do you think provides the most accurate depiction of what happened? Defend your choice with at least three reasons: 1. 2. 3.

Created by the Maryland Historical Society

PRIMARY OR SECONDARY?
In the first column: Make a list of the characteristics of primary and secondary sources based on the two sources you have just examined. Try to list at least six for each type of source. In the middle column: Examine the source you have brought to class. Check off any characteristics that apply to it. In the third column: Cite evidence from your source to support your findings. Characteristics of Primary Sources 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Primary or Secondary? Cite evidence from the source. o 1. o 2. o 3. o 4. o 5. o 6.

Characteristics of Secondary Sources 1.

Primary or Secondary?DA o 1.

Cite evidence from the source.

2. o 2. 3. o 3. 4. o 4. 5. o 5. 6. o 6.

Does your source have more of the characteristics of a PRIMARY or a SECONDARY source? _________Primary _________ Secondary Created by the Maryland Historical Society