Document Analysis

You have 15 minutes for 2 OPVLs

ORIGINS

Name and type of Document Ex. The origin of source B is a diary (A

Child in Prison Camp)… By whom it was written

…written by a prisoner, Shizuye Takashima, in 1971…

Primary/ Secondary …it is a primary source.

The origin of source B is a diary (A Child in Prison Camp) written by a prisoner, Shizuye Takashima, in 1971, it is a primary source.

PURPOSE

Explain all possible purposes of a source of this type (refer to your charts)

Note that you need not give the purpose for a historian; just the purpose for why the person wrote the piece

Its purpose was to record her thoughts about all the events occurring around her at that time. She probably wanted to read it later herself when she got older, or have her family read it, or maybe even have it published some day.

Value and Limitations

Always from the perspective of a historian studying the topic

2-3 points for the value and limitations of each source

Its value is that she was an eyewitness to the events she is describing and people don’t generally lie to themselves in their diaries. A diary is especially valuable for historians because you get a personal perspective on how internment would have affected a Canadian of Japanese origin and their family.

But the limitation to a person studying internment is that she was only one person so this is just one person’s view. Being a a prisoner she probably did not have access to important people like Mackenzie King and documents surrounding the internment issue. A survivor is very close to the event and fails to provide and background into the historiographical debate surrounding internment of Japanese Canadians.

The origin of source B is a diary (A Child in Prison Camp) written by a prisoner, Shizuye Takashima, in 1971, it is a primary source. Its purpose was to record her thoughts about all the events occurring around her at that time. She probably wanted to read it later herself when she got older, or have her family read it, or maybe even have it published some day. Its value is that she was an eyewitness to the events she is describing and people don’t generally lie to themselves in their diaries. A diary is especially valuable for historians because you get a personal perspective on how internment would have affected a Canadian of Japanese origin and their family. But the limitation to a person studying internment is that she was only one person so this is just one person’s view. Being a a prisoner she probably did not have access to important people like Mackenzie King and documents surrounding the internment issue. A survivor is very close to the event and fails to provide and background into the historiographical debate surrounding internment of Japanese Canadians.