John D. Rockefeller Monster Monopolist or Marketplace Hero
Debating the Documents
Interpreting Alternative Viewpoints in Primary Source Documents
Monster Monopolist or Marketplace Hero?
John D. Rockefeller and his Standard Oil Company were widely admired and just as widely despised.
Rockefeller:
©2006 MindSparks, a division of Social Studies School Service 10200 Jefferson Blvd., P.O. Box 802 Culver City, CA 90232 United States of America (310) 839-2436 (800) 421-4246 Fax: (800) 944-5432 Fax: (310) 839-2249 http://mindsparks.com access@mindsparks.com Permission is granted to reproduce individual worksheets for classroom use only. Printed in the United States of America ISBN: 978-1-57596-225-2 Product Code: HS623
InTRoducTIon
Teacher
Teacher Introduction
Using Primary Sources
Primary sources are called “primary” because they are firsthand records of a past era or historical event. They are the raw materials, or the evidence, on which historians base their “secondary” accounts of the past. A rapidly growing number of history teachers today are using primary sources. Why? Perhaps it's because primary sources give students a better sense of what history is and what historians do. Such sources also help students see the past from a variety of viewpoints. Moreover, primary sources make history vivid and bring it to life. However, primary sources are not easy to use. They can be confusing. They can be biased. They rarely all agree. Primary sources must be interpreted and set in context. To do this, students need historical background knowledge. Debating the Documents helps students handle such challenges by giving them a useful framework for analyzing sources that conflict with one another.
“Multiple, conflicting perspectives are among the truths of history. No single objective or universal account could ever put an end to this endless creative dialogue within and between the past and the present.”
From the 2005 Statement on Standards of Professional Conduct of the Council of the American Historical Association.
Interpreting Alternative Viewpoints in Primary Source Documents
Monster Monopolist or Marketplace Hero?
John D. Rockefeller and his Standard Oil Company were widely admired and just as widely despised.
Rockefeller:
©2006 MindSparks, a division of Social Studies School Service 10200 Jefferson Blvd., P.O. Box 802 Culver City, CA 90232 United States of America (310) 839-2436 (800) 421-4246 Fax: (800) 944-5432 Fax: (310) 839-2249 http://mindsparks.com access@mindsparks.com Permission is granted to reproduce individual worksheets for classroom use only. Printed in the United States of America ISBN: 978-1-57596-225-2 Product Code: HS623
InTRoducTIon
Teacher
Teacher Introduction
Using Primary Sources
Primary sources are called “primary” because they are firsthand records of a past era or historical event. They are the raw materials, or the evidence, on which historians base their “secondary” accounts of the past. A rapidly growing number of history teachers today are using primary sources. Why? Perhaps it's because primary sources give students a better sense of what history is and what historians do. Such sources also help students see the past from a variety of viewpoints. Moreover, primary sources make history vivid and bring it to life. However, primary sources are not easy to use. They can be confusing. They can be biased. They rarely all agree. Primary sources must be interpreted and set in context. To do this, students need historical background knowledge. Debating the Documents helps students handle such challenges by giving them a useful framework for analyzing sources that conflict with one another.
“Multiple, conflicting perspectives are among the truths of history. No single objective or universal account could ever put an end to this endless creative dialogue within and between the past and the present.”
From the 2005 Statement on Standards of Professional Conduct of the Council of the American Historical Association.