Primary Sources on the Web

Use in the Classroom

Stephen TitchenalProgram Specialist for Technology

Cleveland Heights – University Heights City School District

S_Titchenal@staff.chuh.org

What is a Primary Source?

The Ohio Historical Society defines primary sources as a "source created by people who actually saw or participated in an event and recorded that event or their reactions to it immediately after the event. In contrast, secondary source is defined as a "source created by someone either not present when the event took place or removed by time from the event."

  · www.ohiohistory.org/resource/teachers/primary.html#definitions

Library of Congress Definition:

Primary sources are defined as "actual records that have survived from the past, such as letters, photographs, articles of clothing." In contrast, secondary sources are accounts of the past created by people writing about events sometime after they happened.

For example, your history textbook is a secondary source. Someone wrote most of your textbook long after historical events took place. Your textbook may also include some primary sources, such as direct quotes from people living in the past or excerpts from historical documents.

memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/lessons/psources/source.html

Copyright and the Public Domain

Anything created after 1977 is copyrighted at the moment of creation and protected for at least 70 years*.

Anything is in the public domain (free to use) in the U.S. if it was created by a federal government employee, published before 1923, published before 1978 without copyright notice, or before 1964 and not renewed*.

*INFO: www.unc.edu/~unclng/public-d.htm

Unpublished Works

Publication: distribution of copies to the public by sale, rental, lease or lending.

Works created before 1978 and not published or registered are protected for:

Life of the author plus 70 years(2003 - 70 years = died in 1933)

Corporate authors: 120 years.(2003 - 120 = 1883)

Reproductions, Compilations

Sometimes the only way students can access primary source materials

Photographs, copies or digital representations of public domain works are sometimes protected by license.

Compilations of public domain materials. Any new material can be copyrighted.

Objects / Artifacts

Ohio Historical Societyohiohistory.org

Ohio Memory Bicentennial Scrapbookohiomemory.org

Ohio History Centralohiohistorycentral.org

Images

Ohio Memory: My Scrapbookpersonalized web page

Cleveland Memory (CSU)clevelandmemory.orgPost Cards Cleveland Press

Associated Press Photo Archivewww.chuh.org/students/

Audio

National Public Radiowww.npr.org

Library of CongressAmerican Folk Life Center - Bluesmemory.loc.gov/ammem/ftvhtml/ftvhome.html

History and Politics Out Loudhttp://www.hpol.org/

Historic American Sheet Musicscriptorium.lib.duke.edu/sheetmusic/

Video/Film

Internet Archivewww.archive.org

NASAwww.jpl.nasa.gov/video/

Television Archivewww.televisionarchive.org

Internet

Wayback Machinewww.archive.orgtype a web site address (URL) to see what the web site looked like in the past

Maps

Rails and Trails: www.railsandtrails.com

Library of Congress:www.americanmemory.org

Statistics

CensusScope – 2000 Census datawww.censusscope.org/

IPUMS – 1850-1990 Census datahttp://www.ipums.umn.edu/

NBER (National Bureau of Economic Research)http://www.nber.org/databases/macrohistory/

Economic Time Series Data Collectionwww.economagic.com/

Text

Cleveland Heights High School Historywww.chuh.org/CHHS/CHHS1901-1966/home.html

Early Cleveland History (3rd Grade - Coventry)www.chuh.org/Coventry/EarlyCleveland/TITLE.HTM

Encyclopedia of Cleveland History (CWRU)ech.cwru.edu/

Cuyahoga River (CSU)web.ulib.csuohio.edu/ellis/

Community

Cleveland Heights Historical Societywww.chuh.net/chhistory/

Cleveland Alivewww.chuh.org/clevealive/

Cleveland Press – Cleveland Heightswww.railsandtrails.com/CleveHts/

Interviews

My mother could never forget and often told me about an enormous blizzard that hit Cleveland, November 9, 1913, while she was still carrying me. Maybe that's why I always liked snow.

An article in the paper tells of 60 miles per hour winds brought suffocating clouds of snow, 22.4 inches over three days. It shut down business, trapped people in their homes, placed the whole area into panic, and caused frantic searches for food. Street cars and trains were stopped cold against a wall of snow. Automobiles had to be pulled out by teams of horses. Communication was nearly impossible as the wind toppled thousands of poles holding telegraph and electric wires.

The Nov. 10th, 1913 record of 17.4 inches in 24 hours still stands. Steamers stayed in the harbor, however some ran aground, one ran aground at E 40th street, despite rescue attempts, 142 people were lost in the storm. For days the undertakers could not bury the dead.

Milk and coal was scarce, water supplied by the city was so muddy it had to be boiled to make it potable. Fortunately mother had enough food and the gas remained on my mother could boil the water, keep the house warm and cook food. Mayor Newton D. Backer decreed he would prevent a recurrence of downed lines in the future, by installing all lines underground from that point on.

Lesson Plan Examples

Evaluating Eyewitness Reportsedsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?ID=281

NARA Digital Classroomwww.archives.gov/digital_classroom/

National Parks Service Teaching with Historic Placeswww.cr.nps.gov

Library of Congress American Memory Learning Pagememory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/lessons/index.html

Creating Your Own Project

Collaborate with a local historical society, university or government body

Interview family members or communityIdentify experts in your communityOrganize your school’s archive

Digitizing Your Own Project

Scan images at 300-600 dpi and save as tiff file (burn to CD for “archival” storage)

Convert images to jpg, djvu or pdf for web viewing.

Use OCR to convert text to “html” format.Add research and bibliographic

information.Use a database to organize project

www.railsandtrails.com/digitizing.htm

Handling oversize originals (Maps)

Scan in overlapping sectionsUse a graphics program such as

Photoshop to straighten if necessary.Use layers in Photoshop to overlap

sections orUse a commercial program such a

Panavue Image Assembler.

For more information

Stephen TitchenalProgram Specialist for Technology14780 Superior RoadCleveland Heights, Ohio 44118

S_Titchenal@staff.chuh.orgLatest version of handouts will be at:

www.chuh.org/Workshops/primarysources/main.lasso