HIPP is an acronym we use for reading primary source documents.
Primary documents enable historians to get as close as possible to what actually happened during an historical event or time period. A primary source reflects the individual viewpoint of a participant or observer. Primary documents preserve the memory of past events. Examples include government records, letters, speeches, diaries, merchants’ account books, literature, pictures, etc. However, no single primary source gives historians a complete or totally unbiased picture. Each has its perspective, value, and limitations. It is imperative to critically analyze primary documents in order to gain a useful and coherent picture of the past. When analyzing documents you must remember to be HIPP!
As many students have already read Letter From a Birmingham Jail, let's use it to practice HIPP. Click here to read Dr. Martin Luther King's Letter From a Birmingham Jail.
Things to consider:
H istorical context:
•Who is the author? (not just name, but position and nationality/ethnicity/gender)
•What events are going on at the time or right before this document was written?
•Is the document a primary or secondary source?
I ntended Audience:
•For whom (specifically, generally) was the document intended?
•What details in this document help you identify the audience? How do you know who it was written for?
•Why was this document created? What was its goal?
•What was the author trying to accomplish?
•What elements in the doc help you to determine its purpose?
•Who (specifically, generally) wrote/produced the document?
•What details reflect the author’s POV? (Look at profession, race, gender, class, location, etc)
•Ulterior (meaning “main”) or secondary motive or purpose? How is this topic/subject personal or how does it apply to the author?