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Editor's Notes

1. Today we’re going to talk about doing research with primary sources – we’re going to talk about digging through all the cool stuff in special collections, and finding evidence to support our research questions. So – first off – who remembers what a primary source is?
2. Primary sources are documents or objects that have the closest connection with history. Primary sources were created during the activity that you aim to study. They offer insider perspectives. Secondary and tertiary sources provide summarization and analysis. Primary sources are the real documentary deal. Primary sources may contain information that is not yet reflected in secondary or tertiary sources – that is, primary sources often contain data that no one has used, yet – or, they may contain data that can be interpreted from a fresh perspective. Can you think of some examples of primary sources? ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS, such as diaries, speeches, manuscripts, letters, interviews, news film footage, autobiographies, and official records  CREATIVE WORKS, including poetry, drama, novels, music, art  RELICS OR ARTIFACTS, such as pottery, furniture, clothing, buildings
3. We can narrow down the data in primary sources to two areas: facts and feelings. This is a good mnemonic for what you’re looking for in primary sources. Facts, such as names, dates, places, events, and relationships. Feelings, such as personal perspectives, opinions, sentiments, and social conditions.
4. Ok, let’s try it out. What facts do you see in this document?
5. What feelings do you see in this document?
6. When you’re looking at primary sources, make sure you pay attention to voices and audiences. Who is the author here? Who are they writing for? And how does that impact the meaning of the document?
7. Approach sources with a critical eye. Ask yourself: When was this made? Where was it made? How does it fit into the historical puzzle? Who made it, and why? Who was their audience? What were they trying to express? What other cultural information does this source rely on? What does it contribute to? How does the medium of the source – pamphlet, book, photo, letter, diary, cassette, whatever – contribute to its meaning? How credible is the source in answering my questions?
8. Let’s take a look at an example collection. When you approach a new collection – whether in person or online – you will be given some information to help you understand its contents.
9. Usually, you’ll get a biographical summary of the collection’s creator. This is from the Lollie Johnson Papers digital collection. We see that Lollie was a San Antonio resident, a bartender and club owner, and that she was active in the San Antonio LGBT community.
10. We also get a description of the type of materials in the collection, what they are about, and what they feature.
11. For the sake of brevity, I’ve clustered together some keywords from the biographical summary and the collection summary. Your job is to assess what data is likely to be in the collection. So – what do you think? What sort of information are we likely to find? What are some research questions you could to try to answer with this collection?
12. When you start digging into primary sources, try to think creatively about the data that’s available. These are images from Lollie’s nightclubs. There’s a lot of data available. What do you see in these photos?
13. This is an image of Lollie in front of here home. What do you see here?
14. Think outside the box. The description of this image only said that it was an image of Lollie at home. Let’s say you were looking for information on San Antonio architecture or plant-life or climates. There’s data in this image to support that. When looking for primary sources, don’t be limited by keyword searching. You want to think about what data you need, and what kinds of sources might have that data. Think broadly! You never know. An image of an old bartender hosing down her front porch might be just the thing you need to show climate change in central Texas.
15. Your methodology is a combination of finding evidence, and analyzing that evidence critically. First, you should clearly state your research question, and identify your data needs. Then, look for sources likely to have the data you need. Then, draw out the raw data in the sources – What facts can you find? What feelings do you perceive? And what inferences can you make from the data at hand? And think critically: How reliable are these sources? What are their biases and perspectives? How do they compare to one another? How do they work together to build history?
16. When you’re ready to go exploring, the special collections librarians are here to help!