Primary Source News: National Archives Releases Pentagon Papers

Monday, June 13, 2011

National Archives Releases Pentagon Papers

Forty years ago today, the NY Times began publishing the Pentagon Papers provided by Daniel Ellsberg. Today, the National Archives has released the Pentagon Papers.

Pentagon Papers from the National Archives

The photo below shows Ellsberg being arrested at Marine Corps Base, Quantico in March 2011 for protesting the detainment of Bradley Manning. Bradley Manning is a US Army Soldier who was arrested for allegedly providing classified information to WikiLeaks.

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Mission Statement

In historical scholarship, a primary source is a document, sound recording, video recording, original work or other source of information that was created at or near the time being studied, often by the people being studied. In this sense primary does not mean superior. It refers to creation by the primary players, and is distinguished from a secondary source, which is a historical work, like a scholarly book or article, built up from primary sources.

Given that in the modern age we have vast amounts of information available, the question often arises, "What can we know for sure?" The Internet and information technology have made primary source materials more widely available than ever before, yet the presentation of the news is too often commentary with little substance.

The interviews, government documents, statements, art and images we are providing represents the raw data that is the news. A picture of the news that only examines primary sources is, of course, incomplete. But a picture that only involves debate and opinion may lose sight of what the story actually is.