Chapter 1: An Introduction to Primary Sources

by Tom Bober

I love old documents. I always have. Older letters, photos, drawings, maps, and films have always fascinated me. I get lost in them, putting myself in the moment, looking for details that place them uniquely in time, comparing aspects of them to today, and wondering about the people or moment in the source.

That excitement was probably why years ago, when I came across digitized historical resources from the Library of Congress, I couldn't wait to bring them to my fifth-grade students. I soon ran into a problem. I had no idea how to help students interact with these types of sources. As much as I hoped my students would be as enamored with the documents as I was, that didn't happen. Instead, the lesson fell flat, my students were disinterested, and I became disenchanted with using these resources with my students.

Sometime later, I was able to attend an institute that opened my eyes. What I was missing were strategies for my students to use to analyze primary sources. I left the best professional development of my life, ready to redeem myself and excited to bring these artifacts to my students. At this point, I was in the library of my elementary school and had the opportunity to begin using resources with students from kindergarten through fifth grade.

The results were better than I expected. As my students began interacting with primary sources, the first thing I noticed was the engagement. Students who often stayed in the background were offering their voices to discussions in the library. Others who were easily distracted were drawn into the learning more than I had seen before. The second benefit that I saw was the deep levels of thinking my students demonstrated. Connections to other learning and their own lives played a role as students made meaning from these historical artifacts. Thought-provoking questions that I would not have anticipated were posed by my youngest students. Lastly, students collaborated in ways that were new to me. Not only did they work together but they also listened to each other and built upon each other's ideas.

But those results didn't happen the first time my students used primary sources or even the second. Instead, the benefits slowly revealed themselves. Over time, I came to realize that part of the reason was that it took them time to learn how to interact with primary sources and each other in new ways. The other part was slower to show itself, but I soon realized that these amazing benefits in my students' learning also took time because I was learning to teach in a new way. One week at the institute gave me tools, but it took me time to learn to use them.

This book is meant to give you tools, or frameworks, that I find invaluable when using primary sources as a part of student learning. It also focuses on special considerations when using these frameworks with young learners. There will be learning involved, for you and for your students, but my hope is that you will reflect on the suggestions in this book as well as your own teaching as you and your students become experts in teaching with and making meaning from primary sources.

Analyzing Primary Sources as a Key Skill in Learning

There are a number of skills that go into analyzing primary sources. Visual literacy will be used when analyzing a historical photo. Foundational literacy plays a role when reading a diary account. Even media literacy is needed to carefully examine old advertisements. Students will collaborate when working together, evaluate when discovering and deciding upon their own found sources, or construct meaning as they identify and interpret aspects of a map.

While planning to analyze primary sources and the learning that happens with that analysis, we can also look to school, district, and national goals and standards to see where connections can be made. Whether you look to the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework, the Next Generation Science Standards, American Association of School Librarians (AASL) National School Library Standards, or other national standards, these skills and others are highlighted as important to student learning. Later, we will look at four critical skills that are developed through work elementary students can do with primary sources and that are also expressed in many sets of standards and goals. We will also use competencies in the National School Library Standards: AASL Standards Framework for Learners to highlight the connection between standards and learning with primary sources in the elementary classroom.

There are standards that speak to student inquiry, encouraging students to develop their own questions as well as plan and implement how to answer them. Primary sources can be used to both inspire student questions and uncover information to answer those questions. Looking specifically at the National School Library Standards: AASL Standards Framework for Learners, ideas around inquiry can be seen through competencies under the shared foundations of Inquiring and Exploring.

Inquiring:

• Using evidence to investigate questions
• Enacting new understanding through real-world connections

Exploring:

• Reflecting and questioning assumptions and possible misconceptions
• Expressing curiosity about a topic of personal interest or curricular relevance

Other standards describe the need for students to seek out and identify perspectives and points of view. Primary sources share a moment in history through the perspective of the person who created the document. Elementary students can begin to identify those perspectives and think about how they shape what they are seeing in the primary source. The importance of exploring perspectives is highlighted in the National School Library Standards: AASL Standards Framework for Learners under the shared foundation of Including.

Including:

• Adopting a discerning stance toward points of view and opinions expressed in information resources and learning products
• Evaluating a variety of perspectives during learning activities

That point of view is not always apparent to the student but can be discovered through the analysis process. The analysis of primary sources connects with other standards in these documents that speak to evaluating sources. The primary-source-analysis processes in this book allow students to evaluate a variety of different formats of primary sources from images to text to audiovisual. The importance of analysis and evaluating can be seen in the National School Library Standards: AASL Standards Framework for Learners under the shared foundations of Curating and Engaging.

Curating:

• Making critical choices about information sources to use
• Openly communicating curation processes for others to use, interpret, and validate

Engaging:

• Evaluating information for accuracy, validity, social and cultural context, and appropriateness for need
• Acknowledging authorship and demonstrating respect for the intellectual property of others

Finally, national standards often promote students interacting with the real world. Primary sources, whether they were created yesterday or centuries ago, connect students to that real world that we want them to interact with. Students connect with a person, event, moment, or place through primary sources that shape their understanding of the past and the present. Elementary students also connect with each other when analyzing a primary source, making their learning a shared event. This skill of shared learning and connecting with others is evident in the National School Library Standards: AASL Standards Framework for Learners when viewing the shared foundation of Collaborating.

Collaborating:

• Developing new understandings through engagement in a learning group
• Actively contributing to group discussions

There may be similar standards or goals in state, district, or school documents you are tasked with addressing in your students' learning. Even if some of the aforementioned standards are not similar to the ones that you explicitly address, you would probably agree that these are important skills for elementary students to be working toward. The analysis of primary sources not only builds these skill sets but also, as you will read in Chapter 4, has the strongest benefit when connected with content that is already taught in your classroom.

What Is a Primary Source?

Before delving too deeply into how primary sources can be used with elementary students, we should define a primary source. There are many definitions for primary sources. They can be found on the websites of institutions that share historical documents, in textbooks, and in our own minds.

For the purposes of this book and the examples within it, I would like to share my own working definition: A primary source is an item directly connected to a topic and related time. If students were, for example, studying the building of the Statue of Liberty, a primary source would be any item connected to the Statue of Liberty and the time when it was being built. That might include architectural plans, photographs or drawings of the statue, or newspaper articles about the building of the statue from that time period. Resources about the Statue of Liberty created outside of the years when it was being planned and built would, in this case, be considered secondary sources for our topic of study. Expository nonfiction about the statue would be an obvious example of a secondary source, but other examples might include online writings, photographs, videos, radio programming, or news articles about the statue created after it was built.

Speaking to many educators and students over the years, I found there are some common misconceptions around defining a primary source. Some of these misconceptions are supported by the definitions shared through trusted institutions. Others are reinforced by how teachers and students have traditionally incorporated different types of sources into student learning.

A first common misconception is that a source is always primary or secondary. In fact, a source is primary, secondary, or not a source at all on the basis of the topic being studied. In our previous example, a letter written by George Washington would have nothing to do with the building of the Statue of Liberty and would not be a source for our study of that topic. I have seen many definitions of primary sources, though, that contain examples of formats such as letters or photos to explain what a primary source is. There is also a classic activity where elementary students show their understanding of primary sources by sorting items into two categories: primary and secondary. Students are told they are correct when they sort items such as letters, diaries, and photographs into the primary source pile and other items such as books, encyclopedias, and websites into the secondary source pile. This activity reinforces this misconception that any item of a particular format is always a primary source. We can see, though, that this isn't the case.

A second misconception is that primary sources are "true" or "factual," while secondary sources are "biased" or "someone's opinion." When this concept is conveyed by a teacher, students are left with the idea that primary sources are better than secondary sources. Teachers and students will find, when analyzing a primary source, that it is riddled with perspective and bias from the individual who created the source. In fact, the perspective and bias evident in the primary source is often what makes the source interesting to interact with and learn from. In addition, there are many benefits from using secondary sources, both on their own and in connection with primary sources. To value one over the other ignores the possibility that a secondary source may help a student understand the confusing elements of a primary source or that a primary source can add depth to the understanding a student gains from a secondary source.

A final misconception that teachers often convey is that a primary source is created by an individual with a firsthand account of the event. While this is the most widespread of the misconceptions, there are two reasons teachers should stop teaching this as a measuring device when determining whether a source is primary or secondary.

The first reason is that while the definitions of a primary source often contain the idea of it being a firsthand account, in practice, this is typically not used. One example is the engraving by Paul Revere of the Boston Massacre. This print is regularly referred to as a primary source of the event, but Revere was not on King Street on March 5, 1770. His work, though coming out three weeks after the event, shaped public perception of the event and should be used today as a primary source when studying the Boston Massacre and its impact. Look at lists of documents described as primary sources on the websites of trusted institutions. It becomes evident that many of these sources are not firsthand accounts but are instead connected to the topic under study and from the time period. This may include immediate reaction to the event in letters, newspapers, or artistic interpretations such as Revere's engraving.

The second reason not to focus on firsthand accounts is that they can be very difficult to verify. Historic items often are identified by a date or date range when they are believed to have been created. There may also be a person attributed with creating the item. Determining whether that person was at the event itself can be challenging or impossible with some formats like manuscripts, newspaper articles, or maps. Not only will this extra criterion frustrate teachers when identifying primary sources to use with students but it will also confuse students when they begin searching for their own primary sources, possibly causing them to abandon sources that could lead to valuable learning. Instead, the definition should assist teachers and students in identifying the item as primary or secondary, not confuse them, making them feel as if they are somehow not able to grasp the finer points of identifying a primary source. Instead, use a straightforward definition. If the item is connected to the topic of study and the time period, label it as a primary source and move to the important work of analysis.

Where to Find Primary Sources

This book does not explore every possible place, online and in person, for identifying primary sources. Nor does it delve into the nuances of search strategies to find these sources. Finding the sources, though, is an important aspect of bringing them to your students. The following are several starting points I use when I am searching for primary sources for elementary lessons. This list is by no means exhaustive. You may already have favorite sites or other resources to access primary sources. The important point is not where you find primary sources for your elementary students to use but that your students have the opportunity to use them.

Library of Congress (loc.gov): This treasure trove of sources has millions of digitized items available. The strength of their collection is in items from the United States prior to 1922, but they have many collections of sources beyond this date. A variety of different formats can be found by searching from the main page, but Primary Source Sets can also be found on their Teachers page (loc.gov/teachers). Use these sets as they are or as inspiration for related searches.

Chronicling America (chroniclingamerica.loc.gov): A collaboration between the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities, Chronicling America is a collection of millions of pages of digitized newspapers from across the United States. Articles, headlines, advertisements, comics, and other parts of newspapers can be explored. Search using period-friendly terminology (e.g., automobile instead of car), or explore the Recommended Topics page to see hundreds of different subjects. Be warned that not all recommended topics are appropriate for elementary students.

DOCSTeach (docsteach.org): Sources from the National Archives can be found here and are easily searchable by historical era or format of document. While there are fewer sources here to search, they are more targeted around specific topics and time periods, making it easier to find items if they are digitized. Sources can also be searched by popular topics (docsteach.org/topics), some of which connect to common elementary school topics of study.

Smithsonian Learning Lab (learninglab.si.edu): The Smithsonian Learning Lab brings together digital collections from across the Smithsonian museums. Search results have supporting information about each source. By creating an account and logging in, users are able to save an item to a collection or mark it as a favorite. Users can also access others' collections, making it a very rich and interactive site.

Digital Public Library of America (dp.la): Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) is a portal to search digitized collections from institutions across the country. While they may be found online elsewhere, DPLA allows for a single place to search hundreds of collections of sources. There are several entry points to search and explore, but do not miss the Primary Source Sets listed under Education. There are over a hundred sets organized by topic of study or even literature. Be warned that not every item in a Primary Source Set may actually be a primary source because it was created outside of the time period related to the topic.

TPS Teachers Network (tpsteachersnetwork.org): The TPS Teachers Network is specifically designed for educators who want to explore the use of primary sources in education. Joining the group gives the user access to the TPS Commons, the main group in the network. Teachers can join other groups to target specific interests in using primary sources. Users can post questions, discussions, links, or create albums of primary sources to share with students or colleagues.

Local Institutions: There likely is an institution near your elementary school that holds sources from the past. It may be a museum, public library, or historic organization. It may be within walking distance or a short drive or may be more practical to contact via phone or e-mail.

Whatever the case, I have always found these institutions invaluable. Not only can they assist in locating primary sources dealing with local history but they can also help take larger themes of history and give them a local significance. Local census records, maps, letters, and photographs can take a historically national event and make it personal because it impacted people who lived long ago in our cities, towns, neighborhoods, or communities.

School Families: Like local institutions, items held as treasures in the homes of school families can give students a personal connection to events that happened years ago. While families may not want treasured keepsakes handled by young children, sharing them digitally with students is a way to provide new value to items that may normally be seen by just a few or hidden in an old shoebox or photo album.

Preparing to Use Primary Sources and This Book

When I prepare to bring primary sources into my library, I think about three things to make the student experience a successful one. One aspect is the analysis strategy that students are going to use. How are they going to interact with the source? What will they do before, during, and after that interaction? Another consideration is the source itself. What is unique about the primary source that makes it the best item my students can learn from? What is unique about it that I need to consider when thinking about how my students will react and interact with it? A third thought is curricular connections. Why am I bringing primary sources into my students' learning? What other learning does this connect to, and how does that impact how my students learn from the source?

These three considerations do not have to happen in a particular order. I may stumble upon an incredible primary source that begins my thinking about a student learning experience. An analysis strategy may strike me as a great approach for a particular group of students and may begin my thinking about using primary sources with them. I may have a previous lesson that just did not work well and wonder how bringing in a primary source would change the learning. Whatever brings you to consider utilizing primary sources in students' learning, all three of these considerations should be addressed to help the learning be contextual, interactive, and engaging.

This book is arranged to reflect those three entry points. They do not need to be read in order, nor do the sections need to be read from beginning to end. Instead, begin where your current need is. If you lack strategies for your students to analyze a primary source, begin with Chapter 2. If there is a format of primary source that students will be working with or if you struggle to decide what source to choose for students to learn with, look to Chapter 3. If trying to determine how to connect primary source analysis to subject areas, consider Chapter 4. Mastered all of the basics? Chapter 5 goes beyond to assure success for student primary source analysis in the elementary grades. Much like the three considerations for primary source analysis intersect, the three chapters will, when appropriate, reference other chapters of the book.

Chapter 2: "Analyzing Primary Sources in the Elementary Grades" looks at several analysis techniques. It begins with a foundational technique to use with students and building upon that to explore other ways to analyze primary sources. Each will focus on unique aspects of the technique as well as how the technique can be modified for our youngest learners.

Chapter 3: "Selecting Primary Sources" focuses on unique aspects of images, texts, and audiovisual primary sources in analysis. The focus is twofold. First, it considers how educators can introduce and encourage students to explore these unique types of primary sources. Second, the section examines students and their unique interactions with different formats of primary sources.

Chapter 4: Primary source analysis does not exist on its own. "Connecting Primary Sources to Content Curriculum" makes connections between primary source analysis and the four major subject areas of social studies, language arts, science, and math. The chapter explores the purpose behind primary source analysis in the different subject areas and the benefits that can extend to other learning.

Chapter 5: Connecting a curricular need, primary source, and analysis strategy is a strong step to a great experience for students analyzing primary sources. "Assuring Success with Primary Source Analysis: Teacher Tips" takes each of those three considerations steps further by sharing tips that come from years of use as well as distinctive considerations when working with elementary students.

My hope is that as you read this book, you are eager to bring primary sources into your students' learning. Feel free to bring a source, strategy, and connection directly from this book into your classroom, make some element of it your own, or develop a completely new lesson inspired by an aspect of the book. The important thing is that you try something. I can't promise that every attempt will be as successful as you hope. A few of my missteps are in the book, but many more happened. I encourage you to reflect on those missteps and learn from them. Then try again. The power of primary sources will begin to reveal themselves to you and your students!