Primary Sources: Photos, Letters, and Ancient Tools: First Grade Social
Historians are detectives of the past who uncover how people lived long ago by examining primary sources like original photographs, handwritten letters, diaries, and ancient tools.
How Do We Know About History?
People who lived hundreds or thousands of years ago cannot speak to us today, and there were no time machines invented to take us back to visit them. So how do historians know what happened in the past? They study clues left behind! These historical clues are divided into primary sources and secondary sources.
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| PRIMARY VS. SECONDARY SOURCES |
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| PRIMARY SOURCE | A first-hand clue created at the actual|
| (Direct Evidence) | time an event happened |
| SECONDARY SOURCE | A textbook or report written later by |
| (Second-hand) | someone who studied the primary clues |
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What Is a Primary Source?
A primary source is an original object, document, artwork, or recording that was created during the exact time period being studied, by someone who witnessed or experienced the event firsthand.
Think of a primary source as direct physical evidence. If you want to know what your first day of kindergarten was like, looking at a photograph of you holding your backpack on that morning is a primary source.
PRIMARY SOURCE EXAMPLES
[ PHOTOGRAPHS ] Show real clothes, faces, buildings, events
[ LETTERS & DIARIES ] Express real thoughts, feelings, and news
[ ARTIFACTS / TOOLS ] Reveal how people worked, cooked, and played
[ CLOTHING & SHOES ] Demonstrate materials, sizes, and craftsmanship
What Is an Artifact?
An artifact is an object made, used, or modified by human beings in the past. Artifacts are often discovered buried deep underground by archeologists who carefully dig them up with small trowels and brushes.
Artifacts include clay pottery bowls, stone arrowheads, rusty iron horseshoes, glass medicine bottles, hand-stitched leather boots, and carved wooden toys. By studying what an artifact is made of and how it was used, scientists learn about ancient daily life.
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| ARTIFACT CLUE | WHERE FOUND | WHAT IT REVEALS |
+---------------------+-------------------+---------------------------+
| Clay cooking pot | Ancient campfire | What ingredients families |
| | | cooked and ate |
| Worn iron horseshoe | Old dirt roadway | People relied on horses |
| | | for farm work & travel |
| Hand-carved slate | Old schoolhouse | How children practiced |
| with alphabet | cellar | writing their lessons |
| Black & white photo | Family attic trunk| What hairstyles and coats |
| | | people wore |
+---------------------+-------------------+---------------------------+
Exploring Different Kinds of Primary Sources
Each type of primary source provides a different window into history.
Photographs: Freezing a Moment in Time
Photographs show us the exact appearance of people, city streets, vehicles, and landscapes in the past.
When you look at a photograph from one hundred years ago, you can observe that streets were made of cobblestones, people wore wide-brimmed hats, and streetlights were lit with gas flames. Photographs preserve visual details that words might miss.
READING A HISTORICAL PHOTO
Look at the Foreground: What are people wearing? What are they doing?
Look at the Background: Are there horses, cars, or dirt roads?
Look at the Buildings: Are there power lines, wooden roofs, chimneys?
Letters and Personal Diaries
A diary or journal is a private book where someone writes their daily experiences and feelings. Letters are messages sent between family members and friends.
Reading a diary entry written by a pioneer child traveling in a covered wagon reveals how cold the river crossing was, how much they missed their friends back home, and how excited they felt when they spotted buffalo herds. Diaries reveal the human emotions behind historical events.
Maps and Government Documents
Old hand-drawn maps show what early explorers knew about the coastline and where rivers flowed before cities were built. Documents like the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution are famous national primary sources that established our country's laws and values.
How to Be a History Detective
You can practice thinking like an archeologist or historian right in your own home.
THE 4-STEP ARTIFACT INVESTIGATION
[ 1. OBSERVE ] What shape, color, and material is it?
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[ 2. ANALYZE ] What tools or marks were used to make it?
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[ 3. INFER ] Who used this object and what was its purpose?
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[ 4. CONNECT ] How does it compare to tools we use today?
Investigating Family Heirlooms
Many families have heirlooms, which are treasured items passed down from grandparents to parents and children.
An heirloom might be an old pocket watch, a patchwork quilt sewn from baby blankets, or a grandmother's handwritten recipe box. Examining these heirlooms connects your family's personal story to the grand story of world history.
Exercises and Review
Exercise 1: What is a primary source, and what are two specific examples of primary sources?
Exercise 1 Solution: A primary source is an original document, photograph, or object created during the exact time an event occurred by someone who witnessed or lived through it. Two examples are a handwritten diary entry written by a pioneer child and a black-and-white photograph taken during a historical celebration.
Exercise 2: How can an ancient clay cooking pot found by an archeologist tell us about how people lived long ago?
Exercise 2 Solution: An ancient clay pot can reveal what materials early people used to make household containers, what kind of foods or stews they cooked over fire pits, and how they crafted pottery by hand to store water and grain.