Types of primary material used for historical reconstruction.
Drawing on contemporary headlines, front pages, and eyewitness reports, this article reconstructs how San Francisco’s newspapers covered the 1906 earthquake and fire—what they got right, what they got wrong, and what they feared.
From the all-black Jago community in Mississippi to New Orleans’ Pontchartrain Park, oral histories have unearthed the stories that written records ignored. This article explores how the practice of listening to the past has become a powerful tool for historical recovery, and the ethical challenges it raises.
Drawing on the 1971 leak of the Pentagon Papers, this article reconstructs how Americans experienced the revelation of government deception during the Vietnam War, the ensuing legal battle, and the lasting impact on press freedom and public trust.
During the Berlin Airlift of 1948–49, children like seven-year-old Mercedes Wild wrote letters to American pilots, turning a desperate crisis into a story of chocolate, hope, and human connection. This article draws on eyewitness accounts and primary correspondence to show how the youngest Berliners experienced and documented the blockade.
In the weeks after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japanese photographers moved through the devastated cities, documenting scenes of unprecedented destruction. Their images—censored, confiscated, and preserved in secret—survived to become one of the most important visual records of the atomic age.
Drawing on the archives of the Mapping American Social Movements project, this article reconstructs how underground newspapers from the Berkeley Barb to the Black Panther broke the media monopoly of the 1960s, giving voice to the counterculture and reshaping American journalism.
Maps are among the oldest forms of human communication, and for historians they are invaluable primary sources. This guide explains how to analyze historical maps critically, what they reveal about past worldviews, and how to avoid common pitfalls.
Oral histories preserve the voices, memories, and perspectives of people who lived through history. This guide explains how to use them as primary sources, from preparation to analysis, grounded in best practices from the Library of Congress, Smithsonian, and Oral History Association.
An essential guide to locating primary sources for historical research, drawing on the expertise of Princeton University, the Library of Congress, and the University of North Carolina. Discover how to navigate archives, libraries, and digital repositories to find the raw materials of history.
Drawing on front pages and editorial columns from October 22–29, 1962, this article reconstructs how Americans and the world read the Cuban Missile Crisis as it unfolded—through the urgent headlines, official statements, and the raw fear of nuclear war that shaped daily life.