What is a Primary Source?
The first question you may have is what exactly is a primary source? A primary source may be defined as:
- a source which was written or created during the time under study. These sources were present during an experience or time period and offer an inside view of a particular event.
You may have also heard of secondary sources. A secondary source is:
- a source that interprets and analyzes primary sources. These sources are one or more steps removed from the event.
Secondary sources may have pictures, quotes, and/or graphics of primary sources in them. An encyclopedia entry or your history textbook are examples of secondary soures that usually contain primary sources.
Primary Source Example
This World War II letter is an example of a primary source. Lt. Col. Amzi Rudolph Quillian is writing to his wife, Eva, dated February 14, 1943. Quillian gives an account of his day which includes washing clothes and learning to play chess. He details the process of boiling clothes in GI issued soap, specifying that they "never turn out white." He further specifies that wool clothing is washed in "yellow gasoline." Quillian also mentions how his friend Butch often loses at blackjack and that he has not been paid since he left the States.
Letters like this illuminate how soldiers spent their downtime when not engaged in combat and other military duties. This particular letter is just one part of a collection that overall tell an amazing story of a soldier's life in World War II highliting countless stories both on the war front and referencing the goings on at home. For more information see: https://archives.columbusstate.edu/findingaids/mc180.php