Acadian Archives/Archives acadiennes at UMFK: Enriching Your Work With Primary Sources

Primary sources are artifacts, records, accounts, or anything created at an event or by someone who lived through an event that can provide a first-hand account of that event (think of a diary, ship log or oral interview). Primary resources range greatly as you'll see below. 

Secondary sources were created after a primary event or based on information gathered from that event or people who lived through an event. Two examples of secondary sources are textbooks or a documentary. Creators of secondary sources will use primary sources in their research. 

When conducting research, you should use a mix of primary and secondary sources to get a full-picture of the topic you are researching and what has already been discovered and published on that topic.

With this in mind, why should you care about primary resources?

• Discovery of new information
• They offer different perspectives and a personal viewpoint. [i.e. Its not just a battle, its the individual soldiers fighting; or the people taking care of their loved ones during a pandemic.]
• Inspiration
• Enhance your work 
• Research papers require them
• You need to collect data to conduct surveys, run tests, and understand how/why the environment has changed 

Primary sources are a valuable source of information, especially for historic events, but there are a few things to keep in mind:.

• Primary sources are based on their contents, not their formats. Formats may change, but the item is still considered a primary source if the content remains unchanged.
• Like humans, primary sources can be have unconscious biases or only tell one side of an event. So make sure to gather as many primary and secondary resources as you can on a variety of perspectives pertaining to the topic you're researching. 
  • Similarly, just because there are no sources doesn't mean something didn't happen or a person didn't exist- there just aren't any records to tell their story. These are called gaps in the narrative and they can tell you just as much as primary sources themselves.
    • Consider the phrase "history is written by the victors"- the victors have the ability to create a narrative that  tells the story they want told. But what about the 'losers'?

• You do 
• Students
• Researchers
• Genealogists
• Anyone curious about any subject or event