Document Study
Document sources
Archives
· government records, such as:
§ old annual reports of various departments
§ cabinet documents
· utility records
§ costs of services for phone, gas, etc.
§ schedules for buses and trams
· companies
§ records of business
§ records of business decisions
§ ( a lot of archaeological writings are lists of business transactions, crops grown, rents, etc.)
· personal documents people have donated
§ letters. Example, settlers in Canada, in Saskatchewan. They sent letters back home, and they received letters from home. You can get some idea of their lives by reading these letters.
§ diaries. Example, study of diaries of rank and file members of the Nazi party.
Newspapers
· letters
· editorials
· news stories
Films, videos, comic books, records, CDs, etc.
Newspapers
In the past newspapers were openly political in nature. Espousing the political goals of their owners was their primary goal. Political parties often owned these papers. Today newspaper owners have a political goal, but their main goal is to make money through advertising.
There is also a concentration of newspapers. A few owners control almost all the daily newspapers, and many of the weeklies. A sample of 30 newspapers may give you the political opinions of 3 owners.
If you want to use newspapers as indicators of peoples ideas, you must go beyond the main papers. The ideas presented in newspapers often reflect the concerns of those in power. For example, you should include the Prairie Dog as well as the Leader Post. If you were to look at the main papers during the depression you would get a very slanted view of what people were thinking about the cause of the depression. These newspapers are businesses, and they are not going to say that there is a flaw in capitalism that caused the depression. You must also look at the many communist, socialist, religious, etc. newspapers.
Diaries
The diaries of the rich and famous are most likely to be printed. The diaries of ordinary people are more likely to be stored in attics.