Exploration 4: Defining Primary Sources

Understanding Goal Understanding Goal

Primary sources are created in the time under study.

Investigative Question Investigative Question

When is a source a primary source?

Patron Actions:

  1. Read the information below and examine the source items.
  2. Consider these questions:
    • Are these primary or secondary sources?
    • What do the items tell you about Christopher Columbus?
    • What don't the items tell you about Christopher Columbus?
    • Discuss: When is a source a primary source?
  3. Brainstorm and discuss answers to finish the statements:
    Primary sources are ___________.
    Primary sources are not __________.

A primary source is something that was created in the time under study. A primary source is an original work written by someone who witnessed or wrote close to an event.

A secondary source is created using information provided by someone else. Secondary sources are often created with some distance from the event.

 

TITLE: Epistola . . . de Insulis Indie nuper inventis (Letter Concerning the Islands Recently Discovered. . . .)

Letter Concerning the Islands Recently Discovered written by Christopher Columbus

There I found very many islands, filled with innumerable people, and I have taken possession of them all for their Highnesses, done by proclamation and with the royal standard unfurled, and no opposition was offered to me.

CREATED/PUBLISHED: by Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) in Rome: 1493, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress

TITLE: Columbus taking possession of the new country.

Columbus taking possession of the new country

CREATED/PUBLISHED: Boston, U.S.A. : Published by the Prang Educational Co., 1893. 1 print : chromolithograph, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress