You will read some brief examples primary sources in the textbook, but this is your chance to dig something interesting up on your own. The source you pick will have to be rather longer in order to have enough for you to write about. But fear not, you will be amazed at what is out there. This assignment is a roughly 2,500 word (not including quotations) report on a primary source in American history in the period 1865 to 1960. The point of the assignment is to give you an introduction to using online research sources, and to learn about an issue from contemporary sources, rather than a secondary source, such as the textbook. In the paper you will tell me what the article or book was about, and your evaluation of ‘the author’s viewpoint. In many cases you may have to do some additional digging to understand the context. Fortunately for us, many interesting sources in American history are old enough to be out of copyright and easily available on the internet. Here’s a good description of what makes a primary source different from a secondary one, although for the assignment in our course you can also consider magazine articles and books written near the time of the events to be primary. Indeed, that is what most of you will be using. Link (Links to an external site.) This video describes finding an interesting source as browsing rather than searching. Link (Links to an external site.) That’s very true, as you may well run across things you hadn’t known existed. I think of it as rummaging through a box of old magazines found in an attic. For that, you need to be in a good archive. The videos and the worksheet will introduce you to some major sources of material and give you a way to evaluate what you have found. Here are some major sites, but keep in mind that not everything you may find would be considered a primary source relevant to our course. Remember that what you choose has to be after 1865 and about something involving the United States. Digital Public Library of America (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. Library of Congress (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. Massachusetts Historical Society (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. National Archives (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site I’ve found these two to be a treasure trove of interesting stuff, and there are many more high quality ones out there, mostly done by universities. For books, the Gutenberg Project offers works downloadable in a variety of formats. The project goes back to the days of very slow connections, but these days you may as well use the HTML versions as they will be easier to use than plain text. To get to the home page, go here: Gutenberg Project (Links to an external site.) For magazine articles, a great source is the Making of America Project: Cornell MOA (Links to an external site.) Here you can browse a large selection of periodicals, and search for subjects or authors. A fun way to use it is to browse a magazine’s indexes around a year you have learned is interesting. Just remember it has to be later than 1865. The Massasoit Library has access to other collections and can ask a librarian (Erin McCoy, for example) for advice on using these if you are not quite finding what you want. A quick way to get started is through the Library Resources link on the left hand side of your screen. Once you have found a possible source, go through this worksheet to see if it is suitable for what you want to do. This is NOT the assignment, it is only an aid to help you get going. primary_sources_worksheet.pdf download Once again, we are using a broad