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Re: What's a Primary Source?



I think that there is a long standing difference of opinion between librarians' and historians' (and possibly archivists' and other academics doing research using older materials) about what constitutes a primary source. I ran into it first when I went back to library school to become an archivist after years of being a researcher & writer and discovered the librarians' views, which clashed dramatically with my various undergraduate and other graduate courses.  Anyway,  I think there was a long thread on this topic some months ago.

At least Ms. Van Ness and I agree that this lamentable web production should be regarded as a primary source.

Sally 



********************************************************

 Sally Gibson
     Archivist

     City of Toronto Archives
     255 Spadina Road
     Toronto, Ontario
     Canada  M5R 2V3
     
    tel.:      (416) 392-5561
    fax:      (416) 392-9685 
    email:  sgibson0@city.toronto.on.ca

>>> Cynthia Van Ness <bettybarcode@YAHOO.COM> 08/30/01 09:01am >>>
Greetings,

This librarian (ahem!) begs to differ.  I tell genealogists that a
primary source is one that was created by a person witnessing the
event being recorded.  Therefore, a birth certificate is a primary
source, the newspaper column reporting the births of that week is a
secondary source, and the website that later transcribes some names
from that newspaper column is a tertiary source.

A personal essay about one's thoughts, whether online or on paper, is
*definitely* a primary source, since it was made by the person
witnessing the event: a writer recording his/her own opinions.

--- Marcus Robyns <mrobyns@NMU.EDU> wrote:
> Greetings:
>
> The librarians at NMU are once again flailing about aimlessly, and,
> as
> usual, have come to the archivist to pull their heads out of their
> collective behinds.  Why must we suffer such children?
>
> Anyway, here's a question from one of their number concerning the
> definition of a primary source:
>
> "what type of resource is an essay on a personal webpage, that does
> not
> cite any references, and appears to be
> the author's own ramblings on a personal subject. Primary?
> Secondary?
> Tertiary?"
>
> My sense is that this type of source should be considered
> secondary, since
> it is published and has an intended public audience.  Also, I
> understand
> the source makes bibliographic references to other related
> material.  However, I thought I'd ask the List for others'
> opinions.  I
> apologize if this topic has come up before.
>
> Thanks,
> Marcus
>
>
>
> _________________________________
> Marcus C. Robyns, CA            To be and not do is not to be at
> all
> Assistant Professor / University Archivist
> Northern Michigan University                    mrobyns@nmu.edu 
> 1401 Presque Isle                                       (906)
> 227-1225
> Marquette, MI 49855                             (906) 227-1333
> (fax)
>
> First they ignore you.
> Then they laugh at you.
> Then they fight you.
> Then you win.---Gandhi
>
> Visit the Central Upper Peninsula and Northern Michigan University
> Archives at:
> http://www.nmu.edu/archives/archives.htm 
>
>
_________________________________________________________________________


=====
*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:**:-,
"...every modern technology, from television to computers,
was invented by men & women whose education was conducted
almost exclusively with pen, paper, and book."
  --Neil Postman
Cynthia Van Ness, MLS, email: bettybarcode@yahoo.com 
Shameless self-promotion: http://cynthia.is-online.net 

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