Which source is the most useful as evidence about the start of the children's evacuation journey?

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                                Evacuation Coursework Question 1

 

Which source is the most useful as evidence about the start of the children’s evacuation journey?

I will examine two sources to find out which is the more useful as evidence about the start of the children’s evacuation journey.

I believe that Source C is more useful than Source B because it is an eyewitness account from a teacher rather than a photograph of evacuees walking to the station. Each type of source could be unreliable or biased, as well as both having the potential to be reliable. I will examine both sources and use provenance, content, audience and tone to back up my opinion as well as my own knowledge.

Firstly, I will examine the content of Source B. The content means what the source consists of. Source B shows apart of the children’s evacuation journey. It shows evacuees walking to the train station in London, September 1939. It shows the children dressed smartly in their uniforms and they were being ushered to the train station by their teachers. I know from my own knowledge that this is an accurate perception because the children were dressed very smartly with their suitcase, gasmask and ID labels because the future foster parents would pick the smartest children to foster. I also know that the children went with their teachers so the content of Source B is very reliable in comparison to my own knowledge. However, it does show the children smiling and waving to the camera. I know from my own knowledge that most children were extremely unhappy about having to be evacuated so therefore this photograph does not give a totally accurate interpretation about the journey of evacuation and this will be taken into account when I decide which source is more useful.

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I will now examine the provenance of Source B. Provenance means who either who wrote the source and where it originated from. I believe that Source B was used as propaganda for the government to help persuade people that evacuation was a  positive thing. Many parents were extremely worried about sending their children away to a place where they did not know, and to people that they had never met or spoke to. The government had to try and persuade the parents to evacuate their children and they thought that by showing a picture of children looking happy about being ...

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