Good history books, documentaries, and even historical fiction and film can teach us a lot about the past.
But if you’re looking for the best, most telling, most accurate way to study history, you really need to check out primary source documents. By that I mean things like letters, journals, newspaper articles from the time period, photographs, manuscripts, manifests, etc. These are the sources good history books and documentaries go to for their information, and it’s where you can find the most authentic and unbiased material in your study of history.
You might have some amazing primary source materials among your family keepsakes. (Someday I’ll have to share a couple of my own family heirlooms — letters from a lonely American soldier stationed in Mexico in 1848.) Never underestimate the historical value of old family letters, journals, documents, and even photographs.
But if you don’t have these things yourself, there is virtually no end to the historical documentation available on the internet. Many of the genealogy/ancestry websites are a great place to start looking, and they provide a wealth of historical information with just a few clicks. Personal letters and diaries are often the most interesting primary source materials, chiefly because they give a more intimate look at individuals and their daily lives, but don’t discount the value of documents like deeds, purchase receipts, and shipping manifests! They can provide so much information about local law, imports and exports, and period prices of goods and materials.
You can read for yourself the personal journals and memoirs of fascinating people like Daniel Boone, Lewis and Clark, and Joseph Plumb Martin. Explore various writings and the personal letters of Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, or John and Abigail Adams. So many of these can be read online for free.
If you can find local documentation, it makes it all the better. Lately I’ve been poring over this…
… the journal of a farmer who lived about 4 or 5 miles south of my own little home right here in the bluegrass. I’ve been busy with a project related to this same time period, and so this little book has proven very useful to me. I found it first at the local library, but finally bought my own copy so I can underline and add notes.
While it’s hardly a dramatic page turner, (then, as now, most people’s day-to-day lives were pretty dull overall,) I love the glimpse it gives into everyday life in Kentucky in the 1850s. There’s a lot of talk about the weather and social calls, which is interesting in its own way, but the references to daily work and the mention of illnesses and injuries, of crops, purchases, and amusements, gives true testimony to life as it was 160+ years ago.
It’s hard to beat that kind of history learning — taken directly from an original source.
I encourage any lover of history to read, listen to, or watch whatever can help them learn more about the past, but it’s always important to keep in mind that most of these sources are regurgitating the information they have collected from primary source documents. When you can, go to the source yourself!
You might be amazed what you discover in your own quest for historical truth!
