Order Description
Selection of Research Sources
Topic: Race Horse
Question: Did the Quarter Horse is the best race horse in the world
Assignment: Seek out primary and secondary sources of information that pertain to your research topic/question research question. As you work through the historical inquiry process you will want to find additional sources, but for this assignment you will need at least 3 sources total, one of which must be a primary source and one of which must be a secondary source. For the third source it may be either primary or secondary. If the sources you chose when selecting a topic/question are still a ‘good fit’ you may use them. If you have altered your question such that the sources you used when deciding on a topic/question are no longer appropriate, find others that are appropriate
For each source, answer the following:
What is the source? – include a copy/image or text of the source.
Is the source a primary or secondary source of information?
Why did you classify the source as primary or secondary?
What are the highlights of the source? – how does it relate to your research question?
Note: Be aware that your first choice of sources may not be an exact fit with your question – but may provide valuable information. You will find/use additional sources before the project is complete.
Learner outcomes: The goal of this assignment is to facilitate your ability to locate and critically evaluate information as well as to enhance your mastery of the historical inquiry process.
Format: Use a table format for completion of the assignment; complete the assignment with 1 table per page. Include text and/or images of your selected sources. See the example below.
Horse in Society Research Project
Selection of Research Sources
Assignment: Seek out primary and secondary sources of information that pertain to your research
topic/question research question. As you work through the historical inquiry process you will want to find
additional sources, but for this assignment you will need at least 3 sources total, one of which must be a primary
source and one of which must be a secondary source. For the third source it may be either primary or
secondary. If the sources you chose when selecting a topic/question are still a ‘good fit’ you may use them. If
you have altered your question such that the sources you used when deciding on a topic/question are no longer
appropriate, find others that are appropriate
For each source, answer the following:
What is the source? – include a copy/image or text of the source.
Is the source a primary or secondary source of information?
Why did you classify the source as primary or secondary?
What are the highlights of the source? – how does it relate to your research question?
Note: Be aware that your first choice of sources may not be an exact fit with your question – but may provide
valuable information. You will find/use additional sources before the project is complete.
Learner outcomes: The goal of this assignment is to facilitate your ability to locate and critically evaluate
information as well as to enhance your mastery of the historical inquiry process.
Format: Use a table format for completion of the assignment; complete the assignment within the 1 table per
page. Attach images of your selected sources if possible. See the example below.
Grading: This is a short-write, assignment worth 10 points.
Example:
Topic: Pony Express
Question: Did the Pony Express improve contact between military in the east and west?
Primary and Secondary sources of information:
Source Primary Secondary
Reason why you classified it as such?
What is the highlight(s) of the source?
Location of the source?
Advertisement
for Pony
Express
X
Reason: Newspaper advertisement published the day before the first
Pony Express ride from St. Louis, MO in 1860
Highlights: speed of communication between east and western US.
Location: Advertisement from newspaper: The Daily Missouri
Republican, (St. Louis, MO) April 3, 1860. Page 3.
The State Historical Society of Missourti80 LCCN sn83045140
http://statehistoricalsocietyofmissouri.org/cdm/compoundobject/collec
tion/dmr2/id/11426/rec/57
Map showing
the Pony
Express route
from
X
Reason: Map created Calvin Smith and copyrighted in 1863
Highlights: route taken by Pony Express riders between St. Louis
MO and San Francisco, CA.
Location: Naval and Military map of the United States – 1862 Pony
Express and Telegraph routes. Map by J. Calvin Smith and
engraved by J. M. Atwood. Copyright Library Jan. 12, 1863. CALL
NUMBER: G3700 1862 .S6 CW 32.5. REPOSITORY: Library of
Congress Geography and Map Division Washington, D.C. 20540-
4650. DIGITAL ID
g3700 cw0032500 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gmd/g3700.cw0032500
Excerpt from
XP Pony
Express
website
X
Reason: Compilation of information by the Pony Express Home
Station managed by Tom Crews.
Highlights: This is the source of information that most closely
matches my research question.
Location: XP Pony Express History
http://www.xphomestation.com/frm-history.html
Source # 1: Advertisement from newspaper: The Daily Missouri Republican, (St. Louis, MO)
April 3, 1860. Page 3
Source # 2: The State Historical Society of Missourti80 LCCN sn83045140
http://statehistoricalsocietyofmissouri.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/dmr2/id/11426/rec/57
Naval and Military map of the United States – 1862 Pony Express and Telegraph routes. Map by J. Calvin
Smith and engraved by J. M. Atwood. Copyright Library Jan. 12, 1863. CALL NUMBER: G3700 1862 .S6
CW 32.5. REPOSITORY: Library of Congress Geography and Map Division Washington, D.C. 20540-4650.
DIGITAL ID g3700 cw0032500 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gmd/g3700.cw0032500
Source # 3: Excerpt from Pony Express Home Station website:
“The ten-day delivery time of the Pony Express was a revolution in its day bringing political and social news to
a hungry readership.
Buchanan’s last message to Congress was delivered in eight days from St. Joseph to Sacramento. When
Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States California knew about it eight days after the news
had reached St. Joseph’s telegraph terminal. Details of Lincoln’s inaugural address covered the distance between
St. Joseph and Sacramento in seven days, 17 hours! In eight days, 14 hours out of St. Joseph, the unionists and
their foes in California knew that Fort Sumter had been bombarded.
The Pony Express can be credited with keeping California in the Union during the dark days preceding the civil
war when there was a real threat that California would side with the Confederacy. There was some prosecessionist
sentiment in Benicia. Critical, was the question of General Johnston’s loyalty to the Union, for he
commanded the entire Department of California. Edmund Randolf, who was a Virginian loyal to the Union, told
James McClatchey in 1861 that Johnston was disloyal and was going to turn the Benicia Arsenal’s arms over to
the rebellious south. McClatchey hurried a secret message by the new Pony Express to President Lincoln.
Brigadier General Sumner, whose loyalty to the Union was unquestioned, was sent to relieve General Johnston.
Before General Sumner arrived in Benicia, General Johnston resigned his commission and went to the South.
All through the spring and summer of 1861 the far west followed the tidings of the ebb and flow of battle, calls
for volunteers, the Battle of Bull Run, and the lists of dead, wounded and missing. Because of the rapid
communication afforded the military and the timely delivery of news of early Union victories, California and its
gold stayed in the Union. “
Source: XP Pony Express History http://www.xphomestation.com/frm-history.html