Transcript ORIGIN – PURPOSE – VALUE

ORIGIN – PURPOSE – VALUE LIMITATION
ORIGIN
• When and where was the source
produced?
• Author/creator?
• Primary or secondary source?
Primary Sources
• Closest to the event
• Any examples?
• Original documents, creative works, and
artifacts
• Ex: Eyewitness accounts, diaries, records
Secondary Sources
• Based on primary sources-one step
removed from event
• An researcher’s (historian’s) interpretation
of the primary sources
• Examples?
• Magazine or newspaper articles, history
essays or books, biographies
Tertiary Sources
• Made up of secondary and primary
sources
• One more step removed
• What could be tertiary?
• High school textbooks, encyclopedias
Beware!
• The lines can be blurry
PURPOSE
• Why was source produced?
• What is the immediate historical context for it?
• Who is the intended audience?
• What does it “say” at surface level?
• What does it say below the surface?
VALUE
• What can it tell historians about the timeperiod or topic?
• Flashlight in a dark room – what does the
source illuminate for the historian?
• Use origins and purpose to help
• Important ideas:
• Perspective of creator based on position, influence,
geography, relationships, etc.
• Time period importance – contemporary or produced
at a later date (primary v. secondary)?
• Public v. private source
LIMITATIONS
• What can’t it tell historians about the time
period or topic?
• Flashlight/dark room – What might be outside
the beam? What can we not see?
• Important ideas:
• What the source is!
• Bias of the source based on social class, gender, race, position,
nationality, religion, etc.
• Time of production: again primary or secondary
• Origins?
• Purpose?
• Value?
• Limitations?
Example-Don’t write this down
• A historian is analyzing a private entry in President Truman’s
diary concerning the possible use of atomic weapons on Japan.
The following is a general OPVL review. More specific analysis
would make reference to details in the document.
• Origin: President of the US, a private, primary source. Context =
World War II and the aftermath of Germany’s surrender and the
looming invasion of Japan.
• Purpose: personal journal meant for later reflection and recall.
Private, not public. Interpretation of what it says (literally) and
what it may reflect would be based on specific document.
Example
• Value: private diary entry and thus likely to be honest and
revealing; from one of the major leaders concerned with making
the decision. Again, interpretations and explanations would be
based on specifics within the document.
• Limitations: only the private perspective of a high ranking
government official from the US. May not reflect other
individual’s opinions who were also involved in the decisionmaking process. Informs about the immediate decision but not
later concerns. May reflect but is not the official public US
government policy position or necessarily the same as US public
opinion on the issue.