Using Visual Documents
One
of the best history websites, the American
Memory site of the Library of Congress [http://memory.loc.gov], provides some useful advice for students using visual documents
as historical sources. The questions in the final paragraph should be asked
by anyone using an image as a primary source.
"Visual documents include photographs, films, paintings, and other types of artwork. Because visual documents capture moments in time, they can provide evidence of changes over time. Visual documents include evidence about a culture at specific moments in history: its customs, preferences, styles, special occasions, work, and play.
"Like other primary source documents, a visual document has a creator with a point of view -- such as a painter, sculptor, or film maker. Even photographs were created by photographers using film and cameras to create desired effects.
"Think about the creator's point of view when you
review visual documents. What was the creator's purpose? Why this pose? Why
that perspective? Why that framing? Why this distance? Why this subject? What
was included? What was excluded? Using visual documents as primary sources
requires careful analysis of the content and the point of view of the creator."
Source: "Student Lesson, Section 3: Primary Sources," American Memory. Last updated 09/26/2002. Library of Congress [http://memory.loc.gov/learn/lessons/psources/types.html ] Accessed Jan. 27, 2004.
Some
Collections of Urban Photographs Available Online