What are primary sources? How and why would we use them in teaching and learning?

This activity is designed to help teachers and students understand the difference between primary and secondary sources. With this knowledge, you can create your own primary source material for future generations to uncover.

Begin by reading What are Primary Sources? and Types of Primary Sources in the Historian's Sources section of the Learning Page. Then, examine the photographs below. Answer these questions:

• When was the picture taken?
• Who is the photographer?
• Why do you think the photograph was taken?
• What does the photograph say about American life in this era?
• A photograph is only one example of a primary source document. What primary source documents do you have at home?

1	2
Touring Turn-of-the-Century America, 1880-1920	The Northern Great Plains, 1880-1920

3	4
Black-and-White Photographs from the FSA-OWI, 1935-1945	Selected Civil War Photographs, 1861-1865

For more ideas and activities that you can do with your students see Create Your Own Primary Source and Using Primary Sources in the Classroom, Lesson Framework, and Historian's Sources, all of which can be found in the Lesson Ideas section of the Learning Page.