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Using sources: provenance, inference and utility

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Historians build their accounts from evidence. At GCSE you are asked what a source suggests, how useful it is, and how it differs from a later interpretation.

Sources and interpretations

A primary source comes from the time being studied: a letter, diary, photo, cartoon, law or speech.
A secondary source was made later, using other evidence, such as a textbook.
An interpretation is a later view of the past by a historian or other writer. GCSE Paper 3 asks you how and why interpretations differ.
A historical enquiry is the question you are investigating, for example 'living conditions in factories'.

Provenance: NOP

Before trusting a source, check its provenance:
Nature: what type of source is it? A private diary, a public speech, a government report?
Origin: who made it, and when? Were they there? What did they know?
Purpose: why was it made? To inform, to persuade, to defend themselves, to make money?
Provenance can make a source more or less reliable, but even a one-sided source tells you something useful, for example what its author wanted people to believe.

Inference and utility

An inference is something you can work out from a source that it does not say directly. Support it with a detail from the source.
Utility means how useful a source is for a particular enquiry. Judge three things: its content (what it tells you), its provenance (NOP) and your own knowledge (is it typical and accurate?).
Worked example

How useful is the mill owner's letter for an enquiry into children's working conditions in 1842?

  1. Content: it claims children were well fed and the work was light.
  2. Provenance: written by the mill owner, who had a reason to defend his business, in a public letter meant to persuade.
  3. Own knowledge: other evidence from the time, such as reports by government inquiries, described long hours and dangerous work for many children.
  4. Judgement: it is not reliable about conditions, but it is useful for showing how mill owners defended themselves against criticism.

Answer: Of limited use for conditions, but useful for showing owners' attitudes and arguments.

Key idea

Primary sources come from the time; interpretations are later views. Check provenance with NOP: nature, origin, purpose. An inference is worked out, not stated. Utility = content + provenance + own knowledge, for a particular enquiry.

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