The Distinction Is Relational
Students learn primary equals old and secondary equals written later, but the definition leaks. A source is primary or secondary relative to a question.
Gibbon's 1776 book is secondary on Rome, but a primary source on 18th-century English attitudes to Rome. The book never changed; the question did. Never ask just "is this primary?" Ask primary to what?
| Source | Question | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Gibbon (1776) | What happened in Rome? | Secondary |
| Gibbon (1776) | How did England view Rome? | Primary |
| 1950s textbook | What caused the war? | Secondary |
| 1950s textbook | What was taught then? | Primary |
The Chain and Testimony
Every source sits at the end of a chain: Event to perception to recording to copying to preservation to your desk. Each link shapes or loses information.
Provenance is the documented history of that chain. A source with no provenance cannot be authenticated, and looted objects lose their context.
| Testimony Type | Definition | Reliability |
|---|---|---|
| Witting | What the source tries to tell you | High motive to distort |
| Unwitting | What it reveals without meaning to | More reliable, more interesting |