How do we know what

happened Yesterday … or 100

years ago?
 Sources of Information
• Historians are concerned first and
foremost about the reliability of sources.

• That means we want sources which are

accurate and can be verified.
 Primary Sources
• Accounts of participants or witnesses,
usually in their own words OR a document
or record produced at the time.

– Examples: a diary, autobiography, letter,

witness statement, report card, photograph,
audio recording
 Artifacts
• Anything made or used by people in the
past
– Examples: clothing, coins, medals, weapons,
tools, furniture, garbage, you name it!

• Artifacts do not speak for themselves but

have to be interpreted in context, by
someone familiar with it.
Primary Evidence
 Secondary Sources
• Accounts written or produced by people who did
NOT witness events, but who are recording
interpretations of them.

• Your textbook is mostly a secondary source

although it contains some primary information.

• Examples: Newspaper articles, TV

documentaries, and history books are mostly
secondary.
 Primary/Secondary Contrast
• Handout on Valour Road

• VS

• Historica Canada - Valour Road

 Reliability
• The ability for accurate and honest information

• Which of the following would be the most reliable

source of information on the health risks of
smoking?
a) A report by the tobacco industry.
b) A 50 year study by the University of Toronto Medical
School
c) Your uncle Phil, a lifetime smoker
 Reliability - continued
• Which would be the most reliable source
of information about current conditions on
a First Nations Reserve in Manitoba?

A) A diary written by an elder resident in 1984

B) A federal government report written by the
Department of Indian Affairs in 2010.
C) A CBC television documentary produced last
year.
 Reliability - continued
• What would be the best source regarding the
murder of an Ottawa University student at a
party over the weekend after a fight broke out?

A) The Facebook page of the brother of the victim

B) The report on CBC radio this morning
C) The account of the man accused of the murder.
D) The account of a police officer at the scene.
 BIAS
• Bias is an inclination to prefer one point of view
or interpretation over others, which may be
equally valid.

• Everyone has a BIAS

– Examples: Politicians and be very bias as they wish to

convince an audience

– A soldier’s journal of life in the trenches is less bias as

they are writing from their point of view.
 Point of View
• It should be understood as your frame of
reference, all the things about YOU that
help to explain why you think what you
think and say what you say.

• Everyone has a point of view.