History Coursework - Evacuation Assignment

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History Coursework – Evacuation Assignment

  1. “Study sources B and C. – Which source is the more useful as evidence about the start of the children’s evacuation journey?”

Source B is a photograph taken in September 1939, showing children walking to the railway station in London to be evacuated. Most of the children in this photograph seem to be happy. Many are walking with their parents, carrying small suitcases and gas masks.

        The source is primary as it was taken at the time of the evacuation process in September 1939. Evacuation had just started. The source is useful to promote the evacuation process throughout Britain, and was most likely produced by the government for this purpose. It has been produced to try and show the general mood of support for evacuation. The government wanted to encourage people as much as possible to support evacuation, and showing the public a group of happy children being evacuated conveyed a good feeling towards.

It could be questioned whether this source is propaganda by the government to try and persuade people that evacuation is the best possible solution to the problem of invasion. If it were propaganda it would not be useful to a historian. It shows more of a staged feeling of support for evacuation rather than a truthful one. The natural reaction to a camera is to smile, and this could have been the case with this source. Also it is only showing a small group of people that makes it less useful for showing the general mood towards evacuation. By only showing one group from one area of the country that seem to have a positive outlook on the process does not mean that the rest of the country are feeling the same way. By showing this small group it discounts the rest of the population and therefore would not be very useful for a historian to gain evidence from. The photograph was taken early on in the evacuation process.

Source C differs from Source B in that it is a secondary source, and is written. It is an extract from an interview with a teacher in 1988, who was an evacuee herself. It is useful to a historian as it uses hindsight, and also is from a personal viewpoint. The source tells us how the teacher remembers her experience of evacuation. As hindsight is present within this source it gives it a more reliable look. There is very little emotion within this account, she is retelling what happened without any bias or feeling, and therefore it would be more useful to a historian studying the beginning of evacuation in Britain.

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One thing that a historian could question when studying this source would be who actually was the source aimed at? And who was the interview with? The answers to these questions would help create a purpose for the source. It would need to be known to be able to analyse it properly, and decide whether it is useful or not. The source also is written as memories. There is over 40 years between the evacuation period and the time of the interview. Her memories of the experience may have changed and she may also have forgotten some details of her ...

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