To begin looking for a primary source, one must begin to brainstorm questions that they have about the past. Once a list of questions have been assembled, it is time to narrow the list down to a specific time frame in history. Once a time frame is established, it is time to look for primary sources of that period in time. Primary sources can come in the form of diaries, newspapers, photographs, posters, etc. The main criteria in finding a primary source is to find one that can be used to analyze to answer questions about the specific time. One can ask questions such as, what was the culture and society like at the time? What important events pushed the development of a certain movement? How did people interact and see the world, what were their values? The most challenging sources to interpret are posters and photographs. One has to infer, and develop analysis, around the context of the images. For example, a photo of Chinese children in a Chinatown would lead to the inference of a more permanent Chinese presence at the time, in the USA. I was trying to locate a personal diary or journal, but wasn’t able to find any.
