January 2012
Primary Sources
Recently at The Fort we have had some patrons relate some interesting facts discovered during research projects and findings that, as usual, led to more questions than answers. This is often the case when doing the kind of searching so common in genealogical circles.
One young woman, who had been reluctant to “bother” her relative by asking lots of questions about the “old days,” related her story of an impromptu afternoon spent with great-grandma giving her a wealth of information. At the end of their session the young woman apologized if she had caused the older woman any upset by asking so many questions and for her to relive the old memories. Grandma’s response was, “Honey, that was the best afternoon I’ve had in many years!” So don’t assume it’s an imposition on your older relatives to share their memories. Often they feel that those stories of the past and their memories are not important to anyone else. Be brave and ask. Use that primary resource while it is still available!
A young man and his father came in for information on a research project for school. The teenaged boy had decided to base his project on something that had touched his father when he was just a child. It was hard to determine which one of them, father or son, was more excited as they gathered the old articles and pictures for the project. How lucky for that student, having a primary source right at hand!
A regular patron of The Fort enjoys coming in occassionally to peruse the old Lexington newspapers that are bound in large books and stored in our vault. The articles are hard to copy so he often sits with a pad making notes of interesting finds. He shared with us that he had spotted a family name mentioned in one of the “gossip” columns. He was referring to the filler items of long-ago local newspapers that told who was visitng whom, who came for Sunday night supper, and who celebrated a recent birth, anniversary, or death in the family. As he continued to read subsequent newspapers, he uncovered a story from the old days that no one in the present day family was even aware of. It’s surprising how those happenings that seem so important today, might get lost forever over just a few generations, if the facts aren’t documented by primary sources.
All these examples, typical of instances when most of us have found information on various projects we have worked on, are times that those primary sources need to be noted. Below is a short lesson on what constitues “Primary Sources.”
What is a Primary Source?
There are three types of resources used in research: primary sources, secondary sources, and finding tools.
I. Primary Sources
A primary source is a document, speech, or other sort of evidence written, created or otherwise produced during the time under study. Primary sources offer an inside view of a particular event. Examples include:
Original Documents
Autobiographies, diaries, e-mail, interviews, letters, minutes, news film footage, official records, photographs, raw research data, speeches, and maps.
Creative Works
Art, drama, films, music, novels, poetry of the time.
Relics or Artifacts
Buildings, clothing, DNA, furniture, jewelry, pottery.
II. Secondary Sources
Secondary sources provide interpretation and analysis of primary sources. Secondary sources are one step removed from the original event or "horse's mouth."
Examples of Secondary Sources
Britannica Online encyclopedia
American National Biography (database)
literary criticism analyzing a play, poem, novel, or short story
magazine or newspaper articles about events or people
political commentary analyzing an election or politician
textbooks
III. Finding Sources
Finding sources are research tools that lead to primary or secondary sources, like databases and online libraries.
****************
We recently had some donations of items that had been precious to their past owners, whoever they may be. As we researched what we should do with these items, we were told that without provenance, most museums and societies don’t even attempt to add the items to their collections. This led us to research the new word PROVENANCE:
Provenance, from the French provenir, "to come from", refers to the chronology of the ownership or location of a historical object. The term was originally mostly used for works of art, but is now used in similar senses in a wide range of fields, covering any artifact found in archaeology, any object in paleontology, certain documents (such as manuscripts), or copies of printed books. The primary purpose of provenance is to confirm or gather evidence as to the time, place, and—when appropriate—the person responsible for the creation, production, or discovery of the object. This will typically be accomplished by tracing the whole history of the object up to the present. Comparative techniques, expert opinions, and the results of scientific tests may also be used to these ends, but establishing provenance is essentially a matter of documentation.
So if great-grandmother saved a baptismal gown, a clock her parents received for their wedding so many years ago, or some special letters get that documentation done while you still can. You may not be looking for monetary value of your family heirloom, but without provenance, your precious items is just another candidate for ebay!