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Primary Sources and How to Use Them

The Montana Historical Society Education Office has prepared a series of worksheets to introduce you and your students to the techniques of investigating historical items: artifacts and photographs. The worksheets introduce students to the common practice of using artifacts and photographs to reveal historical information. Through the use of these worksheets, students will acquire skills that will help them better understand the web interactive. Students will also be able to take these skills with them to future learning, i.e. research and museum visits. These worksheets help unveil the secrets of artifacts and photographs.

Select an artifact or photograph-can be a contemporary item or historical-and have students complete the corresponding worksheet.

How to Look at an Artifact

(Adapted from the National Archives and records Administration Artifact Analysis Worksheet.)
Artifact: An object produced or shaped by human workmanship of archaeological or historical interest.
1. What materials were used to make this artifact?
Bone                 Wood               Glass                 Cotton
Pottery             Stone                Paper                Plastic
Metal               Leather             Cardboard       Other ________________________
2. Describe how it looks and feels:
            Shape __________________________________________________________________
            Color __________________________________________________________________
            Texture _________________________________________________________________
            Size ____________________________________________________________________
            Weight _________________________________________________________________
            Moveable Parts ___________________________________________________________
            Anything written, printed, or stamped on it _____________________________________
Draw and color pictures of the object from the top, bottom, and side views.
            TOP                                                 BOTTOM                                                SIDE






3. Uses of the Artifacts.
            A. How was this artifact used? ______________________________________________
            B. Who might have used it? _________________________________________________
            C. When might it have been used? ____________________________________________
            D. Can you name a similar item used today? ____________________________________
4. Sketch the object you listed in 3.D.








5. Classroom Discussion
A. What does the artifact tell us about technology of the time in which it was made and used?
______________________________________________________________________________


B. What does the artifact tell us about the life and times of the people who made and used it?
______________________________________________________________________________


How to Look at a Photograph

(Adapted from the National Archives and records Administration Photograph Analysis Worksheet.)
Photograph: an image recorded by a camera and reproduced on a photosensitive surface.
1. Spend some time looking at the whole photograph. Now look at the smallest thing in the photograph that you can find.
What secrets do you see? ___________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
2. Can you find people, objects, or activities in the photograph? List them in the chart below.
PEOPLE OBJECTS ACTIVITIES
3. What questions would you like to ask of one of the people in the photograph?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
4. Where could you find the answers to your questions?
______________________________________________________________________________