"Teaching with Colorado's Heritage"
Module 3: Evaluating the reliability of primary source materials

As you begin to work with primary source materials, it is essential to remember that every source is biased in some ways- all sources have the bias of the author or creater as well as the bias of the interpreter (you). Therefore, when analyzing primary sources, keep in mind:

• the extent that the source is reliable.
• limitations within a given source.
• point of view and bias of the creator.

The Reliability of the Source
From published governmental documents to personal letters, primary sources were created for different reasons, with different audiences in mind. Knowing the different types of primary sources will help you evaluate the reliability of the source you are using. Read through the following piece Types of Primary Sources, from the Library of Congress American Memory to help in your assessment.

Activity
Do the following activity:

"The City of Washington at Lincoln's Death", adapted from The City of Washington at Lincoln's Death,Primary Source Document Exercise.

Access the images, below. As you view/read the images, answer the following questions:

1. What is this document about?
   What does this document tell you about the Civil War era in Washington?
2. Who produced this document?
   Did they actually witness the event?
   How reliable is the creator of the document?
   If not, why not?
   What biases might the creator have had?
3. Who was the intended audience?
4. Why was this document created?
   What was the occasion?
5. What type of document is this? Is this document a primary source?
   Does it have first person or second hand testimony or both?
6. Evaluate the information provided in the document:
   Is the evidence clear, reliable, first person or second-hand/hearsay?
   Does this document help you understand the history of the Civil War in Washington, D.C.?
   • Mary Henry diary, April 15 and 16, 1865,
     <http://www.si.edu/archives/documents/mary.htm#documents>
   • Civil War era images of the Smithsonian,
     <http://www.si.edu/archives/documents/dcduringcw.htm>
   • The assassination of President Lincoln
   
   
   • New-York Times coverage of Lincoln's assassination, April 15 and 16, 1865,
     <http://www.nyt.ulib.org/>

Then consider:

• What do these document tell you about Washington at the time of Lincoln's death?
• Does one form of evidence shed light on other forms of evidence?
• Does one document help you evaluate the quality of the information in another document?
• When you combine these primary sources, is the whole greater than the sum of its parts?

From the Library of Congress The Historian's Sources, some primary sources may be judged more reliable than others, but every source is biased in some way. As a result, historians read sources skeptically and critically. They also cross-check sources against other evidence and sources. Historians follow a few basic rules to help them analyze primary sources (Giese, 2002):

• Time and Place Rule
  To judge the quality of a primary source, historians use the time and place rule. This rule says the closer in time and place a source and its creator were to an event in the past, the better the source will be.
  Consider: How does the creator know these details (names, dates, times)? Was the creator present at the event or soon on the scene?
  Where does this information come from-personal experience, eyewitness accounts, or reports written by others? (http://library.ucsc.edu/ref/howto/primarysecondary.html)
  
• Bias Rule
  The historians' second rule is the bias rule. It says that every source is biased in some way. Documents tell us only what the creator of the document thought happened, or perhaps only what the creator wants us to think happened. As a result, historians follow these bias rule guidelines when they review evidence from the past:
  
  Every piece of evidence and every source must be read or viewed skeptically and critically.
  No piece of evidence should be taken at face value. The creator's point of view must be considered.
  Each piece of evidence and source must be cross-checked and compared with related sources and pieces of evidence.

Complete the following activity to practice assessing the reliability of primary source materials.

Activity
Analyzing the History of Amache Through Primary Sources

Nurse Matilda Honda and a patient at Colorado General Hospital in Denver, Colorado where Miss Honda is employed as a staff nurse at the relocation center hospital http://carbon.cudenver.edu/public/library/archives/cdp/chs7.jpg

Sunday afternoon and the three girls who occupy this barracks room relax. http://carbon.cudenver.edu/public/library/archives/cdp/chs17.jpg

Three young evacuees drop their baggage and relax to argue about whose bunk goes in which corner on arriving at their new quarters. http://carbon.cudenver.edu/public/library/archives/cdp/chs8.jpg

From newborn calves the students get farm shop credit through part-time farm work at the center farm units. http://carbon.cudenver.edu/public/library/archives/cdp/chs18.jpg

Children in the Granada Relocation Center http://carbon.cudenver.edu/public/library/archives/cdp/mc24.jpg

1. Analyze item using the Analysis Guide
2. Now analyze an item below, using the analysis guide.
   • Evacuees arriving at the Granada Relocation Center
     http://carbon.cudenver.edu/public/library/archives/cdp/mc18.jpg
   • Guard Tower
     http://carbon.cudenver.edu/public/library/archives/cdp/mc16.jpg
   • First Amache War Casualties
     http://carbon.cudenver.edu/public/library/archives/cdp/mc15.jpg
   • Amache High School Student Letters (choose one of the letters)
     http://carbon.cudenver.edu/public/library/archives/cdp/corr.pdf
   • Granada Relocation Center Directory
     http://carbon.cudenver.edu/public/library/archives/cdp/dir2.pdf
   • Granada Pioneer Dec. 5, 1942
     http://carbon.cudenver.edu/public/library/archives/cdp/v1n13.pdf
3. Present to class your primary sources and analyses.
4. Discuss as a group, were the analyses accurate? What other information do you need to determine this?
5. Now, as a whole class, go through the analysis guide again, using information from all of the primary sources listed.
6. Discuss as a group how does viewing just one of the sources suggest a different history then viewing several or all of the primary sources?
   Who do you think created the first group of images?
   Who do you think created the second group?

Giese, J. 9/26/02. The Historian's Sources. Section 2: Student Lessons. The Library of Congress. http://memory.loc.gov/learn/lessons/psources/analyze.html. 9/15/03.