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By Michael Eamon, historian and archivist, Library and Archives
Canada Libraries and archives hold objects, like documents and
books, which help us to find out what happened in the past. One
way to organize these objects is to divide them into primary and
secondary sources. What makes an object a primary source or a
secondary source often depends on how you use it. Primary and
secondary sources, when used together, help us to understand
people, ideas and events from the past. People use original,
first-hand accounts as building blocks to create stories from
the past. These accounts are called primary sources, because
they are the first evidence of s