Society for Women and the Civil War
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Society for Women and the Civil War, Inc. Box #9066 8345 NW 66th St. Miami, FL 33166 (804) 244-1864 www.swcw.org |
| Operational Definitions Guidelines for Creating a Conference Presentation |
One of the criteria on which papers will be selected is ” Quality of research based principally upon use of primary sources.”
This document provides a Operational Definitions for “Primary Sources” and “Secondary Sources”.
Content Analysis: Types of Primary Sources
Primary sources enable the researcher to get as close as possible to what actually happened during an historical event or time period. A primary source
reflects the individual viewpoint of a participant or observer at the time of the event. Primary sources can be published or unpublished, in public archives or
private collections, and can take a variety of forms.
1. Diaries, journals, speeches, interviews, letters, memos, manuscripts and other papers in which individuals describe events that they
observed or participated in.
2. Memoirs and autobiographies. Although less reliable than diaries because they are written after an intervening interval of time. They are
sometimes, however, the only source for certain information.
3. Records of or information collected by government agencies. Many kinds of records (births, deaths, marriages; land records, probate records,
permits and licenses issued; census data; etc.) document lives.
4. Records of public and private organizations. The minutes, reports, correspondence, etc. of organizations, clubs, groups, schools, churches,
agencies or societies of any sort serve as an ongoing record of the activity and thinking of that organization or agency.
5. Published materials including books, magazine, journal articles, letters to the editor and newspaper articles written at the time about a
particular event. Some of these accounts are written by journalists or other “objective observers” while others are written by participants. This does not
include things that were not written at the time of the incident written about or within the historical period being studied.
6. Photographs, audio recordings, movies and video recordings, documenting what happened. Obviously, of the above list, only photographs
would be available during the Civil War. But veterans and others who lived through the war and survived into the 20th century did live to be captured on film
and audio recordings.
7. Materials that document the attitudes and popular thought of a historical time period. Music, works of fiction and non-fiction, speeches,
sermons and other forms of art and literature can help to frame the mores and attitudes of a time period. The point is to use these sources, written or
produced at the time, as evidence of how people were thinking.
8. Research data such as anthropological field notes, the results of scientific experiments, and other scholarly activity of the time.
9. Artifacts of all kinds: physical objects, buildings, furniture, tools, appliances and household items, clothing, toys.
This document provides a Operational Definitions for “Primary Sources” and “Secondary Sources”.
Content Analysis: Types of Primary Sources
Primary sources enable the researcher to get as close as possible to what actually happened during an historical event or time period. A primary source
reflects the individual viewpoint of a participant or observer at the time of the event. Primary sources can be published or unpublished, in public archives or
private collections, and can take a variety of forms.
1. Diaries, journals, speeches, interviews, letters, memos, manuscripts and other papers in which individuals describe events that they
observed or participated in.
2. Memoirs and autobiographies. Although less reliable than diaries because they are written after an intervening interval of time. They are
sometimes, however, the only source for certain information.
3. Records of or information collected by government agencies. Many kinds of records (births, deaths, marriages; land records, probate records,
permits and licenses issued; census data; etc.) document lives.
4. Records of public and private organizations. The minutes, reports, correspondence, etc. of organizations, clubs, groups, schools, churches,
agencies or societies of any sort serve as an ongoing record of the activity and thinking of that organization or agency.
5. Published materials including books, magazine, journal articles, letters to the editor and newspaper articles written at the time about a
particular event. Some of these accounts are written by journalists or other “objective observers” while others are written by participants. This does not
include things that were not written at the time of the incident written about or within the historical period being studied.
6. Photographs, audio recordings, movies and video recordings, documenting what happened. Obviously, of the above list, only photographs
would be available during the Civil War. But veterans and others who lived through the war and survived into the 20th century did live to be captured on film
and audio recordings.
7. Materials that document the attitudes and popular thought of a historical time period. Music, works of fiction and non-fiction, speeches,
sermons and other forms of art and literature can help to frame the mores and attitudes of a time period. The point is to use these sources, written or
produced at the time, as evidence of how people were thinking.
8. Research data such as anthropological field notes, the results of scientific experiments, and other scholarly activity of the time.
9. Artifacts of all kinds: physical objects, buildings, furniture, tools, appliances and household items, clothing, toys.
For more guidance on Primary Sources, click here.