UNDERSTANDING

SOURCES
Primary Sources VS
Secondary Sources
 What are Sources?
• It is from historical sources that our
history is studied and written.
• But in analysing them, several
methodologies and theories were used
by historians to properly study history
and glean from the sources what is,
for them, a proper way of writing
history to enhance and disseminate
national identity.
 PRIMARY SOURCES

• Are materials produced by people or groups

directly involved in the event or topic being
studied.
• These people are either participants or eyewitness
to the event. These sources range from eyewitness
accounts, diaries, letters, legal documents, official
documents (government or private), and even
photographs.
• Provides firsthand, original, and unfiltered
information.
 FIGURE 1. Map
Showing the
Katipunan
Movement by D.A.
Navarro
 In his work, Understanding History, Gottschalk (1950)
discusses the importance of SOURCES for the historian’s work

• “The historian, however, has to use many materials that are not in
books. Where these are archaeological, epigraphical, or numismatical
materials, he has to depend largely on museums. Where there are
official records, he may have to search for them in archives,
courthouses, government libraries, etc. Where there are private papers
not available in official collections, he may have to hunt among the
papers of business houses, the monument rooms of ancient castles, the
prized possessions of autograph collectors, the records of parish
churches, etc. Having some subject in mind, with more or less definite
delimitation of the persons, areas, times, and functions (i.e. the
economic, political, intellectual, diplomatic, or other occupational
aspects) involved, he looks for materials that may have some bearing
upon those persons in that area at the time they function in that
fashion. These materials are his sources. The more precise his
delimitation of persons, area, time, and function, the more relevant his
sources are likely to be. (52-53)”
 Examples of Primary Sources
1. Photographs that may reflect social
conditions of historical realities and
everyday life;
2. Old sketches and drawings that may
indicate the conditions of life of
societies in the past;
3. Cartoons for political expression or
propaganda;
 Examples of Primary Sources

4. Old maps that may reveal how space

and geography were used to
emphasize trade routes, structural
build-up, etc.;
5. Material evidence of the prehistoric
past like cave drawings, old
syllabaries, and ancient writings;
6. Statistical tables, graphs, and charts;
 Examples of Primary Sources

7. Oral history or recordings by

electronic means of accounts of
eyewitness or participants; the
recordings are then transcribed and
used for research; and
8. Published and unpublished primary
documents, eyewitness accounts,
and other written sources.
 FIGURE 2. Front page
of THE SUNDAY

From the Private Collection of Emmanuel Encarnacion

TRIBUNE published
February 10, 1935
featuring the approval
of the Constitution of
the Philippine
Commonwealth
 ADVANTAGE AND DISADVANTAGES OF
PRIMARY SOURCES

ADVANTAGE(S) DISADVANTAGE(S)
1. Directly addresses your topic and often 1. Some Primary Sources, such as
provide information that is unavailable eyewitness accounts, may be too close
next elsewhere. to the subject, lacking critical distance.
Ex: the questions you compose for an 2. Others, such as interviews, surveys, and
interview will likely target your interest in experiments, are time consuming to
the topic. prepare, administer, and analyze.
2. In testing a particular hypothesis, you
can design your own experiment.
 SECONDARY SOURCES
• Gottschalk simply defines secondary sources as
“the testimony of anyone who is not an
eyewitness – that is of one who was not present
at the event of which he tells” (p.53).

• These are books, articles, and scholarly journals

that had interpreted primary sources or had
used them to discuss certain subjects of history.

• They can be just as valuable as primary sources,

secondary information is filtered through
someone else’s perspective and may be biased.
 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF
SECONDARY SOURCES

ADVANTAGE(S) DISADVANTAGE(S)
1. Provides a variety of expert perspectives 1. Information may be colored by the
and insights. writer’s own bias or faulty approach.
2. Peer review usually ensures the quality
of sources such as scholarly articles.
3. More efficient than planning,
conducting, and analyzing certain
primary sources.
 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PRIMARY AND
SECONDARY SOURCES
PRIMARY SOURCES
 Created at the time of an event, or very
soon after
 Created by someone who saw or heard
an event themselves
 Often one-of-a-kind, or rare
 Letters, diaries, photos and newspapers
(can all be primary sources)
SECONDARY SOURCES
 Created after event, sometimes a long
time after something happened
 Often uses primary sources as examples
 Expresses an opinion or an argument
about a past event
 History text books, historical movies
and biographies (can all be secondary
sources)