Introduction
The point of primary document-driven historical research is actually fairly simple: what does an artifact we can actually experience now tell us about how someone else experienced it in the past? The “stuff” of our experience becomes in small form of what the French historian, Pierre Nora refers to as a “place of memory”—a thing that becomes a symbolic connection of our experience to the past.
The focus of this project will be one of the following artifacts:
You may choose a food or meal that is important to your family (the artifact in this case will be a recipe, or an interview with someone who makes the dish, or a photograph of the meal being prepared). Now you need to figure out what larger familial, community, or cultural concerns it represents, and where it came from.
Another option is a household item or technology that was once part of your family’s everyday life but is no longer. This might be a piece of equipment or technology that is now obsolete—like an 8-track cassette player or an old-fashioned TV set or stereo, or a butter churn, or a potato ricer, or a wash board, or a corded phone, for instance. All of these items were once indispensable items in many homes, but newer technologies have replaced them.
Tracing a History
The big difference between working with primary sources vs. secondary sources is that tracing history from a primary source usually includes looking at objects that are intimately connected to a person who has somehow attached value to it. What you’re looking for is how that value became attached. What’s the story leading to that?
Think about the things that are important you, for instance the things to which you have the greatest emotional attachment: you probably already have a personal or family history connected with it. A game because you played it with siblings or friends. A song someone sang for you. A tool because someone taught you how to use it. A kind of food or recipe because someone you liked made it for you.
But such items also likely have a broader, community or cultural value. Maybe the game taught you coordination skills and numbers. Maybe the song has a long history and tells something about the culture whose people still sing it. Perhaps that tool was something necessary for harvesting crops or building furniture. Perhaps that recipe mattered because it was a way of celebrating a holiday or preparing fresh ingredients to last through the winter season.
Research
Once you identify your primary source (the artifact), you should decide on your remaining sources. You may include one additional primary source if you wish; this might involve an interview with a family member, or a photograph or letter. Then, you will set about doing your secondary source workshop. You’ll need to learn about this object you have chosen, and you may need to search books, encyclopedias, and older newspapers to accomplish this.
You should use at least two secondary sources in this search, and should quote and/or summarize from both, with special attention to correct documentation.
The Essay
The essay will trace the history and significance of this object in its own time, and that time may come up to the present, or not, depending on the object and whether it is still a part of your life.
Technical requirements:
Length: About three pages, typed and double spaced. You should include a (reasonably sized) photograph of the object as part of your essay. Put it near the beginning, so that you can refer to it as necessary.
At least one primary source, and at least two secondary sources.
Thorough and correct MLA documentation.
