What is a Museum?
Museums collect, preserve, study, interpret and exhibit objects or artifacts. As a group, these objects are called collections.
Why Museums are Important
Many of the objects that the National Museum of African American History and Culture will be collecting — as well as items that may perhaps be found in the home — provide a vital link to America's past.
The objects safely preserved by museums tell the story of ordinary citizens as well as the famous. They remind us that history is being made everyday.
Museums preserve both an individual and a national history. Through examining objects, discover information about the past and about your place in the continuum of history.
Using Primary and Secondary Sources
A primary source is an original fundamental and authoritative document pertaining to an event or subject of inquiry, a firsthand or eyewitness account of an event. –Webster's New Millennium™ Dictionary of English
The images of objects and other primary sources on this website serve as the "voice" of those who lived during different eras. Learn to analyze documents and objects for an authentic view of times past. Use these sources to gather evidence of what people did, what people thought and how events unfolded.
Primary sources present multiple perspectives. They may often provide missing pieces of an historical puzzle.
Examples of Primary Sources
- Photographs
- Uniforms
- Letters, Diaries or Journals
- Bibles
- Census Reports
- Mailed Envelopes
- Tombstones
- Tools
- Music & Art
- Advertisements
A secondary source is an interpretation of a primary source.
Examples of Secondary Sources- Textbook
- Article about a work of art
- Stamps (which commemorate a person, place or thing).
These sources are an important link to our past, but are not as direct as studying a document or object that existed during the historical period at hand.