Week 2 Student Notes - Primary & Secondary Sources PDF

**[WEEK 2 NOTES ]** **[WHAT ARE PRIMARY SOURCES]** - Definition: Firsthand direct evidence about a historical topic or period (letters, diaries, photographs, official documents, and artifacts). [Importance:] crucial to understanding the context and details of historical events, research...

**[WEEK 2 NOTES ]** **[WHAT ARE PRIMARY SOURCES]** - Definition: Firsthand direct evidence about a historical topic or period (letters, diaries, photographs, official documents, and artifacts). [Importance:] crucial to understanding the context and details of historical events, research and analysis. [Types:] - Documents: letters, diaries, speeches, autobiographies, official records, manuscripts, and government reports. - Visual Materials: photographs, paintings, drawings, and films that capture moments or past subjects. - Artifacts: tools, clothing, pottery, and buildings that provide material evidence of past cultures and societies. - Oral Accounts: Interviews, oral histories, and testimonies from witnesses. - Media: Newspapers, magazines, and radio broadcasts. [Challenges: ] - Subjectivity: Primary sources can be biased or limited. Researchers must critically assess the reliability and views of the sources. - Incomplete Records: Not all aspects are captured leading to gaps in historical understanding. - Fragility: Sources, especially physical artifacts, can be fragile and deteriorated. - Accessibility: Some are difficult to access due to location, language, political sensitivities or preservation issues. [Examples: ] \- Government Documents: Treaties, laws, decrees, and official correspondence from states or colonial powers. \- Political Declarations. \- Diaries and Letters: Personal accounts and letters from political figures, activists, and ordinary citizens. -Autobiographies and Memoirs. \- Newspapers and Magazines: Articles, editorials, and reports from newspapers and periodicals from the region. \- Pamphlets and Brochures: Political propaganda and informational pamphlets from revolutionary or political movements. \- Photographs: Images of key events. \- Films and Documentaries: Audio-visuals from historical events/periods, including propaganda films and newsreels. \- Interviews: Recorded interviews with individuals. \- Oral Traditions: Stories and testimonies passed down generations. \- Artifacts: Physical objects related to historical events, such as military uniforms, political banners, and personal items from notable figures. **[WHAT ARE SECONDARY SOURCES]** - Definition: Interpretations and summarisations of primary sources (books, articles, and documentaries written by historians or scholars), created after and produced by individuals who did not experience the events firsthand. [Importance:] essential to provide interpretations, analyses, and summaries of primary sources. [Types:] - Books: Scholarly, history, and biographies. - Articles: Journal articles, essays, and reviews that discuss and interpret historical topics or primary sources. - Encyclopedias and Dictionaries: Reference works. - Documentaries and Films: Media productions combining primary sources and expert commentary. - Reviews and Critiques: Academic critical reviews of primary sources or previous secondary sources. [Challenges ] -Subjectivity: Biases and perspectives of authors influence their interpretation of historical events. \- Accuracy and Reliability of sources: Secondary sources depend on the reliability and credibility of the primary sources and other secondary sources they use. \- Updating Knowledge: Information may be outdated as new research and discoveries emerge, necessitating ongoing review and revision. \- Incomplete Information: If primary sources are incomplete or biased, secondary sources may also reflect those limitations. [Examples:] -Historical Books. \- Biographies. \- Academic Articles. -Essays. \- Reference Works. \- Documentaries. **[THE 20^TH^ CENTURY: AGE OF HOPE]** **General background to 20^th^ C.** - Science and technology greatly advanced in the 1800's - 1903: 1^st^ plane by Wright brothers /1930's: TV/ 1969: Moon landing - Edison's invention of lamp (1879) shot off electricity and its vast capabilities, affecting industry and media x-rays were discovered too useful for medical science and nuclear physics i.e. Marie curie (Nobel Prize) and radioactive substances BUT with negative and positive consequences - Telephone, telegraph and wireless signals - Engines and the use of petrol driven cars - Education improved; increase in books published - Olympic games revived based on ancient Greeks - Marxism; Liberalism; Populism; Conservatism; Progressivism - LATER: Communism; Fascism; Nazism - Women's campaigns: USA and Britain were starting to fight for the right to vote - Most major world states were European nations - Growth of communication, expansion of European Colonisation and the influence of nationalism outside Europe meant that globalism was on the rise i.e. events in one part of the world were to have an effect on the other