Student Guide: 25 Questions To Ask Your Primary Source
The things you find when you rummage through your attic, the county historical museum or, for that matter even the American Memory archive, run the gamut from trash to treasure. But which are which and what makes the difference? How do you detect historical significance in a single photograph or letter or artifact?
Before you begin to collect and archive primary source materials for your own Memory Project, learn some essential questions that you must ask about any item you find in an historical archive. Discuss with your classmates why you do (or don't) need to know the answers.
Use the 25 Questions To Ask Your Primary Source to analyze primary source material such as photographs, letters, official documents, artifacts, interviews, and recordings.
Find an item from any American Memory collection and use the 25 Questions.
Discuss your findings with your class.
Repeat the assignment using an item from your family or local community. (Your teacher may assign you a particular type of item or a particular item to analyze; you may also be asked to work alone or in pairs.)
When you have tested these questions, decide whether or not there are other or different questions you would ask and explain why. Rewrite your own list of 25 Questions and add the list to your Memory Project.
Questions to Ask Before Using--or Making--a History Archive
What . . .?
What is it?
What are the people doing in the story or the document?
What do the words say? What do they mean?
What appears unusual about the image or the language?
What is the bias of the source of this information?
What is the point of this particular photograph, story, etc. . . .or this archive as a whole?
What changes can be seen in this photograph or artifact?
What might have caused the changes?
What Else . . .?
What else could it be or could it mean?
What else does this item remind you of?
When . . .?
When did the events happen?
When was this item made or story told or document written?
When was it collected?
Where . . .?
Where did these events happen?
Where was the item made? found?
Where could you find more background information on this?
Who . . .?
Who is the story/document/picture about?
Who is saying/writing this story/document/picture?
Who still knows about this event or this artifact? Who else knows about this event or this artifact?
Why . . .?
Why did this happen?
Why is this important?
How Many . . .?
How many more items like this one can I find?
How many people were affected by this event?
Which . . .?
Which of these items is most important?
Which of these items is related to something in your textbook or other secondary source?
