Same Social studies › Writing about history › Comparing two accounts
Why compare firsthand and secondhand accounts?
A firsthand account comes from someone who was there: a diary, letter, telegram or interview. A secondhand account is written later by someone who wasn't: a textbook or article. Kids compare what each one focuses on, what details only one has, and what they agree on.
- Firsthand: feelings and details, from one view.
- Secondhand: facts, context and the bigger picture.
- Together they tell more than either alone.
Why schools teach it
Each kind of account sees something the other misses
Fourth graders compare firsthand and secondhand accounts of the same event and describe the differences in focus (RI.4.6). Fifth graders analyze multiple accounts (RI.5.6), and middle schoolers relate primary and secondary sources (RH.6-8.9).
A firsthand account can be vivid but limited to what one person saw; a secondhand account adds context but can lose the human detail.
At the kitchen table
What to say, and what to skip
Say this
Was this writer there?
Firsthand or secondhandWhat does this account tell you that the other doesn't?
What do both agree on?
Which would you use for feelings? For facts?
Skip this
- “Firsthand is always better.”Eyewitnesses can be wrong or see only part.
- Comparing only what's the same.The differences are the point.
- Ignoring the date.How long after the event was it written?
See it in action
The Wright brothers' first flights, 1903
Firsthand
The brothers' telegram home: “Success four flights thursday morning ... longest 57 seconds ...”Secondhand
A history summary: four flights on December 17, 1903; the longest lasted 59 seconds and went 852 feet.Compare
Both: four flights. Different: the telegram's “57 seconds” was a telegraph error; the summary has the corrected time.
Telegrams were short because senders paid by the word.
Free practice sheet
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Parents also ask
Is a firsthand account the same as a primary source?
Close. Firsthand means the writer was there. Some primary sources, like a law, aren't eyewitness accounts.
Can an account be both?
A memoir written years later by someone who was there is firsthand but may have memory gaps.
Which one should kids trust more?
Neither automatically. Check them against each other.
What does “focus” mean in these questions?
What the writer pays most attention to: feelings, facts, causes or results.