Primary Source
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A “primary source” is the best place to get first-hand information. A person who experiences an event, and gives an account of it, is a source of primary information. Maps, photographs, drawings, videotapes, diaries, letters, manuscripts and other similar items can be primary sources.
Someone who interprets primary sources – like a scholar, for example – is creating a secondary source. (See Yale Universitys web site for a good understanding of the differences between primary and secondary sources.)
It is our policy to link to primary source material whenever possible. That is the reason most of our links are to worldwide national archives, museums, universities, military and government sites as well as other institutions like historical societies and libraries. It is our aim to provide a virtual trip to reliable places where primary sources are maintained. We frequently link to scholarly sources as well. All links serve as footnotes to our stories.
Where helpful, we link to scholarly narratives that explain the subject, or issue, in more detail. Scholarly-narrative links – when we use them – usually appear near the end of our stories, when the reader is more prepared to explore them.
Each recommended link, embedded in the story, takes you directly to the source of the footnoted information. If you would like to visit the main page of the linked site, or to further explore its content, eliminate everything in the URL after the “.edu, .gov, .org,” etc., and then press “enter.” That will take you to the main site where you can then search for whatever additional information you may need.
We have thoroughly researched appropriate links. Wherever possible, people who really know the subject matter have reviewed the stories for accuracy. Our main objective is to help our visitors find their way to some of the best on-line information regarding the profiled subjects – and to have fun at the same time. We hope you have enjoyed your visit.