Types of primary material used for historical reconstruction.
Drawing on contemporary reports from The New York Times, the South Vietnamese press, and eyewitness accounts, this article reconstructs how the fall of Saigon in April 1975 was reported, feared, and understood by those who lived through it.
Diaries are intimate, subjective, and deeply personal records that offer a unique window into the past. This guide explains how historians analyze diaries, from questioning the diarist’s purpose to cross-referencing with other sources, and reveals the pitfalls of treating these volumes as neutral truth.
In 1965, the Kuwaiti government published its first annual statistical abstract, a 86-page volume that sought to capture the rapid modernization of an oil-rich nation. Based on contemporary records, this article reconstructs how the abstract was produced, received, and what it reveals about the era.
Political cartoons have been vivid primary sources since the 18th century, offering intriguing insights into the public mood, cultural assumptions, and attitudes of an age. This article explains how historians decode satire, symbolism, and historical context to read these images as evidence, using examples like Benjamin Franklin’s ‘Join or Die’ and George Cruikshank’s caricatures.
This article explores how diaries, official Nazi records, photographs, and survivor testimonies allow us to reconstruct the Holocaust as it was experienced and understood by contemporaries. Drawing on major archival collections, it shows the power and limits of primary sources.
From the rise of the Nazis to the end of World War II, American newspapers carried a varied but often incomplete picture of the Holocaust. This article explores what readers actually saw in print, decade by decade, using primary sources from the U.S. press.
Drawing on radio transcripts, contemporary news reports, and White House records, this article reconstructs how Franklin D. Roosevelt’s fireside chats reassured a panicked nation during the Great Depression and World War II—and how ordinary Americans heard and understood them.
Oral histories capture the voices of those who lived through the past, but using them as evidence requires careful listening, critical reflection, and cross-checking. This article draws on guides from the Library of Congress, TeachingHistory.org, and WSU Libraries to show how historians analyze interviews, navigate memory’s fallibility, and uncover the perspectives often missing from the written record.
Drawing on the guidance of archivists and historians, this article explains how letters and diaries serve as primary sources, the conventions that shape them, and the methods for extracting reliable evidence from these personal texts.
How historians use photographs as primary sources, from the Pit Brow Girls of 1893 to modern archival practice, revealing the power and pitfalls of visual evidence.