The Nation in the 20th Century World History Institute

1
The Nation in the 20th CenturyWorld History
Institute
2
Goals

• Improve teacher content knowledge
• Increase primary source usage and analysis in
  world history classrooms
• Support teachers to increase implementation of
  document-based writing
• Collaborate to improve writing instruction
• Evidence-based curriculum reform

3
Primary or Secondary Source

• adapted from History Project at UC Davis

4
Definition

• According to the Library of Congress,
• primary sources are the raw materials
• of history documents and objects
• which were created at the time under
• study. They are different from second-
• ary sources - accounts or interpreta-
• tions of events created by someone
• without firsthand experience.

5
Video Clip

• Primary vs. Secondary

6
Some additional thoughts

• Primary sources are materials produced by people
  or groups directly involved in the event or topic
  under consideration. Think of them as first-hand
  information.
• Examples of primary sources include eyewitness
  accounts, speeches, letters and diaries,
  newspapers and magazines, tax and census data,
  marriage, birth and death records, works of art,
  and interviews.

7
Secondary sources

• Secondary sources construct an explanation of the
  past based on primary sources and usually in
  consultation with other secondary sources.
• The best secondary sources will both report on
  events in the past as well as generalize,
  analyze, interpret and/or evaluate.

8
TITLE Epistola . . . de Insulis Indie nuper
inventis (Letter Concerning the Islands Recently
Discovered) There I found very many islands,
filled with innumerable people, and I have taken
possession of them all for their Highnesses, done
by proclamation and with the royal standard
unfurled, and no opposition was offered to
me. CREATED/PUBLISHED by Christopher Columbus
(1451-1506) in Rome, 1493. Rare Book and Special
Collections Division, Library of
Congress Available at http//www.loc.gov/exhibits
/treasures/trt038.html
9
TITLE Columbus taking possession of the new
country. CREATED/PUBLISHED Boston, U.S.A.
Published by the Prang Educational Co., 1893. 1
print chromolithograph. Prints and Photographs
Division, Library of Congress Available at
http//lcweb2.loc.gov/cgibin/query/i?pp/PPALL_at_fie
ld28NUMBER_at_band28cph3b495872929
10
On a summer day in 1492, Columbus set sail fro
Spain into the uncharted seas with three small
ships. After more than a month at sea, crew
members sighted landone of the Bahama islands in
the Caribbean. In honor of Christ, Columbus
named the land San Salvador, which is Spanish for
holy savior.Convinced that he had reached
islands off the coast of India, Columbus called
the natives Indians. --World History
Traditions and New Directions by Peter N.
Stearns, Donald R. Schwartz, and Barry K. Beyer
published in 1991 by Addison-Wesley Publishing
11
Complexity

• Sources may be both primary and
  secondarydepending on your topic or question.

12
Stations

• Around the room there are 5 stations with sources
  from different time periods.
• Your task is to determine if each source is
  primary or secondary and why.
• If there are secondary sources, under what
  conditions could they be considered primary?