🏛️ Understanding Historical Sources

This guide can be used to evaluate historical sources using principles and tools endorsed by top U.S. universities.

1. Check Source Authenticity

• What to ask:

  • Is the source original or a reproduction?

  • Is it housed in a reputable archive or collection?

• Why it matters: Authentic sources are the bedrock of credible historical analysis.

🔗 Stanford University Archives 🔗 Yale Manuscripts & Archives Guides 🔗 Harvard Library – Evaluating Sources

2. Evaluate the Author’s Credentials

• What to ask:

  • Is the author a trained historian or scholar?

  • Are they affiliated with a university or research institution?

  • Were they an eyewitness or writing retrospectively?

• Why it matters: Expertise and proximity to events shape reliability.

🔗 Harvard History Department Writing Resources 🔗 Stanford Historical Society – Source Evaluation

3. Understand the Purpose & Audience

• What to ask:

  • Was the source created to inform, entertain, or persuade?

  • Is it a scholarly article, propaganda, or fiction?

• Why it matters: The intent behind a source affects its objectivity.

🔗 Harvard Guide to Using Sources

4. Corroborate with Other Sources

• What to ask:

  • Do other sources confirm the same facts?

  • Are there multiple perspectives on the event?

• Why it matters: Cross-checking builds a fuller, more accurate picture.

🔗 Yale History Department – Research Collections 🔗 Harvard Ask-a-Librarian History Research Guide

5. Contextualize the Source

• What to ask:

  • What was happening when the source was created?

  • What cultural or political forces shaped it?

• Why it matters: Context helps avoid misinterpretation or anachronism.

🔗 Stanford Primary Sources Guide 🔗 Yale Research Guides – Subject-Specific Context

6. Use Peer-Reviewed & Academic Publications

• What to ask:

  • Is the source published by a university press or peer-reviewed journal?

  • Does it cite other scholarly work?

• Why it matters: Academic publishing ensures rigorous review and credibility.

🔗 Harvard Guide – Peer-Reviewed vs. Popular Sources Harvard Guide – Peer-Reviewed vs. Popular Sources 🔗 Yale Historical Review & Research Centers Yale Historical Review & Research Centers

Below is a video on Resource Reliability that can give insight to validating if a source is trustworthy & a tabled summary of the concepts from the video.