This assignment really opened my eyes to how important it is in history to analyze sources in depth and how lengthly the process must be in order to come to credible conclusions. Sources such as primary and secondary documents are a very important part of the study of history. Historians come to conclusions based of documents and the evaluation of these documents and whether they’re credible or not is essential. Throughout my education I have had to analyze a variety of literature but never such as a primary document. My primary document, which were a series of letters, revealed an immense amount of information about the specific time period and the values and experiences Irish immigrants possessed. This assignment really helped me with my final research paper and really demonstrated to me the process that historians go through and the importance and effort that goes into analyzing historical documents when conducting research.
My own experiences and knowledge most definitely came into play in how I interpreted this document and aided me in putting certain aspects in context. As my father is an Irish immigrant himself, and my family is Catholic, the use of holy language within the letters was easy for me to interpret and understand why that may be as I was aware that faith was and still is a big part of the Irish identity. This idea contributes to how our past experiences affect our interpretation of historical documents. Someone who may not have had the same awareness as I may have interpreted certain aspects of this primary document, such as the language used, differently.