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History Resources

Week 10 - The Perpetrators and Institutions of the Holocaust

To this point the discussion has mainly focused on locating secondary resources for developing a topic.  Secondary resources recount an event from some time after that event not necessarily by someone even involved in the event .  They can be represented in the form of a web site, a book, or an article to name a few types of resources.  However, many of the same places that we can look for these secondary resources we can also look for primary resources, which is simply a resource that recounts an event as the event is going on or recounts an event by some one involved in the event shortly after the event.  As a researcher you just have to understand what you are looking for.  For instance, the web site for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has many entries that describe what the Holocaust is, which is secondary, but they also have sections that provide oral histories from survivors, which is primary.  You can find the oral histories here.  When there you will see other options that will provide primary resources.  There are links to the Museum's photo collection as well as music collection.  This is a treasure trove of primary material.

The other web sites discussed in Week 1 can also be reviewed in this manner to pull out primary resources.  Try them and see what you can find.

Also, going back into the library Catalog you will likely be able to find oral histories, photographs, maps, and film footage that would qualify as primary resources.  You simply have to know what to look for.  If you search Holocaust survivors alone you will see a wide variety of materials that could potentially be considered primary. 

Then there are the historical databases that can really put you in the event. If you go to the Primary Sources heading to the left and link to the  Primary History Source Finders you will be able to search for articles that cover myriad events of the time.  For instance, you can limit your search to a specific date range so that you can find articles that were written during the Nuremberg Trials.  This will help you gain an even greater understanding of the event. 

Primary resources are essential to historians as they put them closer to the event and that allows them a clearer understanding of the event.  And these types of resources are not as difficult to find as you might think.  You just have to first have the definition in mind when you are looking for resources.  Then you can spot them wherever you might be. 

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