What does a historian require in order to make a valid historical interpretation?

Evaluating Evidence: A Conversation with Professor Joanne B. Freeman

Historians use primary sources as evidence to support their historical arguments. They are aware that primary sources often reflect the interests and concerns of their creator or author so must be critically examined and evaluated.  When using primary sources, see if you can determine:  

• author or creator?
• date of publication (how close to the actual event)?
• intended audience?
• purpose of the source (to present facts, or point of view)?
• does it contain unspoken assumptions?
• anything about the author that may influence the validity or reliability of the source?
• any biases?
• how this source compares with others from the same period (are there inconsistencies or contradictions)?
• if the original source was commissioned or funded by anyone with a particular viewpoint?

You may not be able to answer all these questions, but hopefully you can find enough to help you decide how reliable the source is and how you will use it.

Evaluating secondary sources

Secondary sources allow us to learn how other historians have interpreted primary sources in order to understand an event.  It is equally important to evaluate the reliability and validity of secondary sources as much as the primary.  Points to consider:

• The author (can you determine his/her academic credentials?)
• Publication date (when was it written)?  Consider the political, cultural and social context in which the source was written.
• Publisher (scholarly or academic press, or popular)?
• Intended audience?
• What sources does the author use as evidence (primary or secondary)? 
• Do you know of any primary sources the author did not consider?
• Does the author interpret the primary sources persuasively?
• Does the author acknowledge other points of view?
• Check the bibliography or notes to see if other important works are referenced.

As with primary sources, you may not be able to ascertain all of the above, but you should be able to determine enough about the source in order to determine its usefulness.

Primary Sources for Historical Research

What are primary sources? Why are they useful?

Primary sources refer to documents or other items that provide first-hand, eyewitness accounts of events. For example, if you are studying the civil rights movement, a newspaper article published the day after the 1965 Selma to Montgomery march and a memoir written by someone who participated in the march would both be considered primary sources.

Historians use primary sources as the raw evidence to analyze and interpret the past. They publish secondary sources - often scholarly articles or books - that explain their interpretation. When you write a historical research paper, you are creating a secondary source based on your own analysis of primary source material. 

Examples of primary sources include diaries, journals, speeches, interviews, letters, memos, photographs, videos, public opinion polls, and government records, among many other things.

Online Databases - Poll, Survey, & Demographic Data

Online Databases - U.S. Government Information

Along with the below databases, there is also a huge collection of government information in Randall Library. Much of it is findable in the library catalog and is able to be checked out like other books.

Finding Published Primary Sources in Randall Library

Primary sources are available both online and in the library. To locate published primary source materials in Randall Library, use the UNCW Library Catalog. You can start with a keyword search for your topic (e.g. "civil rights movement"), which will retrieve secondary sources as well as primary. From there, drill down to focus on primary sources by:

 1. Clicking on a relevant record, such as this book.

 2. Scrolling down to the section labeled "Subject" and clicking on a relevant subject term. Subject terms are "controlled vocabulary" terms that classify all items in the library catalog to make it easier to find things on those topics. In this example, you can click on the subject "Civil rights movements -- United States -- History -- 20th Century."

 3. After you've done that, you'll see a list of subject terms in alphabetical order. Use the search box and add words onto the end of the subject term that signify primary sources. Sources is always a good places to start, but you can also try words such as correspondence or diaries. Since the list is in alphabetical order, you can also scroll through to find subject terms that sound like they'd relate to primary sources. 

4. So, in this example, you would add " -- Sources" onto the end of the existing subject term - "Civil rights movements -- United States -- History -- 20th Century -- Sources" - and search for that. If you click on the resulting term, you will see a list of all items in Randall Library that have been given that classification - including, for example, this book entitled Eyes on the Prize that probably contains a number of useful primary sources for this topic.​

Finding Archives and Special Collections in Randall Library

Randall Library also contains some unpublished materials in its archives and special collections departments. These are primary source materials that are often one-of-a-kind or rare. The University Archives collects materials on the history of UNCW, and Special Collections focuses on the history of Southeastern North Carolina, but both of these collections have significance beyond just our university or our region. For example, if you are researching the civil rights movement, you might use University Archives to investigate how college students in the South responded to this movement.

To find these collections, you can use the search box on the Archives and Special Collections webpage, but definitely also contact the University Archives or Special Collections staff. They know best what's in the collections and can tell you if anything they have is relevant to your research.

Online Databases for Historical Research

Below, I've listed some primary source databases that are freely available online. These only scratch the surface of online collections of primary sources. To search more specifically for your topic, try searching for the topic plus archives, primary sources, or digital collection. For example, doing a quick search for civil rights primary sources in Google finds this Civil Rights Digital Library, containing important documents, photographs, and videos from the Civil Rights era. 

PLEASE NOTE: Randall Library also pays for access to a number of primary source databases. These are listed here (or, from the library homepage, go to Databases --> By Type --> Primary Sources (Historical)). They cover both U.S. and international topics, stretching back centuries.

Before you begin

Before you start your search, make a list of the terms, places, people, and specific events about which you want to find primary resources. Remember to keep in mind the language used during the time period you are researching, as those words will allow you to find materials that you might not otherwise locate using modern terms. For example, during the Civil Rights era, some newspapers might have used the term "Negro," rather than "African American" as we use today. Keep this list handy and add to it as you learn more about the topic.

History Librarian

Kiana Webster

Social Sciences & History Librarian

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