Primary sources are items that provide first hand accounts or data from witnesses or participants in past events. Researchers use these sources to provide evidence for how people acted, thought and felt during historical moments. They can take various forms, such as letters, government documents, photographs, pamphlets, or newspapers.
Using these items as evidence is a bit different than using other types of sources, like published books, articles or encyclopedias. Sometimes the answers to your research questions will be very obvious, and sometimes you might need to find different ways to uncover the answers, such as consulting other sources, making an informed guess, or asking a librarian. The inability to answer questions may, in fact, provide you with important information that helps you interpret your item. Watch the video below to learn more about how you can use primary sources.
Critical examination of the items you are looking at can help you consider how to best use the evidence to support or contradict your argument. We encourage you to remember to consider various perspectives and experiences from different people and groups when conducting research and that we should be careful to represent this diversity in our research.
Historically, the vast majority of archivists have been white and male, so the perspectives of others can be white-washed, silenced or altogether erased. More attention is being given to combating bias in the field and within archival collections as many archives are developing programs to foster more opportunities for BIPOC librarians. There is also discourse surrounding the topics of reparative archiving and conscious editing to prevent the perpetuation of whitewashing history.
UMD Special Collections and University Archives librarian Jen Eidson presented "Consciously Editing Finding Aids" using our AFL-CIO Civil Rights Department records as a case study at the MARAC Fall 2022 Conference. Lae'l Hughes-Watkins was also recently promoted to Associate Director for Engagement, Inclusion and Reparative Archiving, and has written and presented numerous pieces on the subject.
To hear a great interview on the topic, listen to "(Web) Archives and Black Culture with Zakiya Collier" on the podcast Organizing Ideas.
Scotty Beland is a student in the Masters of Library and Information Sciences program and Student Assistant with the Instruction and Outreach team at UMD.
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