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PRIMARY SOURCES
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ART / MUSIC / LITERATURE
These types of sources can often provide clues into the social, cultural and political climate of an era. From fine oil paintings to ink-drawn political cartoons, artwork captures a moment in time as seen through the artist’s eyes.
Music is a way to communicate messages of celebration, patriotism, worship, war, tradition, or personal journeys. Understanding the time period in which a song was created can help you better understand a group of people or a community.
An author might choose to use historical references in a particular work. Getting a sense of how a writer interpreted a place, event, or person can open new doors about the author’s motivations or opinions.
These sources are a bit different from the standard written document people associate with a primary source. But it is because they are different they tend to generate different questions which makes them interesting items to research. They might not relate specifically to your town history, but they can often give a sense of national or regional issues taking place during the time period or topic you are researching.
You Might Learn:
• How your town looked in the eighteenth century oil painting
• Songs sung by soldiers during the Civil War
• Popular songs played on the radio in the 1920s
• The symbols and meanings in the caricatures of nineteenth-century political cartoons
• The perception of your town based on a famous writer
• Descriptions of your town’s Revolutionary or Civil War battlefields in historical novels
• Cultural traditions in folk songs
• Social strife in folk songs or popular music
• Perceptions and experiences of different cultures or ethnic groups
Where to Find These Sources
• Newspaper
• Magazines
• Art Galleries
• Bookstores
• Concerts
• Record Stores
• Libraries
• Archives
• Libraries
• Historical Societies
• Library of Congress: Culture, Folklife Collection Online
For more information, check out:
Making Sense of American Popular Song
by John Spitzer and Ronald G. Walters at History Matters
Analyzing Blues Songs
by Lawrence Levine at History Matters
Analyzing a Melville Story
by Hans Bergmann at History Matters
Analyzing a Thomas Nast Cartoon
by Michael O’Malley at History Matters
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