Digital

Documentaries

Using Primary and Secondary Sources to

Create a Digital History Documentary

Objectives

• By the end of this activity, you will:

• Know the difference between primary and secondary

sources

• Research primary and secondary sources for documents,

images and video

• Create your own documentary with images and primary

source information

Primary vs. Secondary Sources

• Primary Sources:

• Original, first-hand account of an event or time period

• Usually written or made during or close to the event or time period

• Original, creative writing or works of art

• Factual

• Examples:

• Diaries, journals, and letters

• Government records (census, marriage, military)

• Photographs, maps, postcards, posters

• Recorded or transcribed speeches

• Interviews with participants or witnesses (e.g., The Civil Right Movement)

• Interviews with people who lived during a particular time (e.g., genocide in Rwanda)

• Songs, plays, novels, stories

• Paintings, drawings, and sculptures

Source: BMCC Library - http://lib1.bmcc.cuny.edu/help/sources.html#definitions

Secondary Sources

• Analyzes and interprets primary sources

• Second-hand account of an historical event

• Interprets creative work

• Examples:

• Biographies

• Histories

• Textbooks

• Literary Criticism

• Book, Art, and Theater Reviews

• Newspaper articles that interpret

Source: BMCC Library - http://lib1.bmcc.cuny.edu/help/sources.html#definitions

Exploring Primary Sources

• Annals of American History

• Offers primary source documents

• Provides images and video of historical events

• EASY TO CITE!!

• Encylopaedia Britannica

• Library of Congress American Memory Collection

• Provides free and open access to still and moving images, written

and spoken words, prints, maps and more

• Civil Rights Digital Library

• Search photographs by person, event, topic or places

Inserting Images in Your Story

Once you find

an image, right-

click on it, select

Save image as

and save it to

your folder.

Inserting Images in Your Story Using Encylopaedia Britannica

Once you search

for a topic, click

on the Images &

Videos tab

Inserting Images in Your Story Using Encylopaedia Britannica

Once you find

an image, right-

click on it, select

Save image as

and save it to

your folder.