Research and Course Guides: HIST 117 Latin America in Global Perspective: Find Primary Sources

What is a Primary Source

What is a Primary Resource?

Primary sources provide first-hand testimony or direct evidence created by participants and/or observers of a historical event or time period enabling researchers to get as close to the truth of what actually happened. Often, these materials are created at the time when the events or conditions occured. However, primary sources can also include autobiographies, memoirs and oral histories that are written or recorded later.

Primary sources are characterized by their content not their format. Therefore, primary sources can be found in published books, on microfilm/microfiche, in digital form or in their original format.

The following types of materials are generally considered primary resources:

Diaries or journals
Letters or other manuscripts
Speeches and interviews
Photographs
Sound recordings
Video or motion picture recordings
Memoirs and autobiographies.
Published materials (books, magazine and/or newspaper articles)
Government documents
Objects and artifacts
Artworks

Find Primary Sources in Books

Search LibrarySearch to find primary sources in books and ebooks. When searching, you will want to use specific keywords in your searches to single out the primary source materials. Many of these keywords in the list below are commonly used in the subject headings -- the specialized "tags" added to the records describing books. Others words on this list are commonly used in the titles to indicate that the book is a collection of primary sources.

correspondence	personal narratives
documents	pictorial works
diary or diaries	songs and music
sources	journals
reader	documentary history

Primary sources in books/ebooks can also be identified by searching for works by a specific author. For example :

Author : Che Guevara

Find Primary Sources in Books and Pamphlets

Early American Imprints, 1639-1800 This link opens in a new window
The Early American Imprints collection is a searchable full-image primary source collection that features books, pamphlets, and ephemera documenting life in 17th- and 18th-century America. It includes materials relating to agriculture, foreign affairs, diplomacy, literature, music, religion, the Revolutionary War, slavery, temperance, and witchcraft.
Sabin Americana: History of the Americas, 1500–1926 This link opens in a new window
Sabin Americana, 1500–1926 is digital archive of books, pamphlets, serials and other works about North, Central and South America, and the Caribbean the from the time of their discovery to the early 1900s.

Find Primary Sources in Newspapers and Magazines

American Periodicals Series This link opens in a new window
With this database you have access to 1,500 magazines, newspapers and popular journal titles published in the United States dating 1741 through the 1930s.
Readers' Guide Retrospective This link opens in a new window
Use the Readers' Guide Retrospective index to locate articles published in popular press magazines and journals dating from 1890 to 1982.
New York Times (historical) This link opens in a new window
Complete searchable content of The New York Times from 1851 to 2020 including articles, editorials, advertisements, and photographs.
Washington Post (historical) This link opens in a new window
Complete searchable content of Washington Post from 1877 to 2008 including all articles, editorials, advertisements, and photographs.
British Library Newspapers This link opens in a new window
In this database you will find full-text content and images of 70 national, regional and local 19th century British newspapers including both liberal and conservative perspectives on the social and political developments of the times in which they were published.
Guardian and The Observer (Historical) This link opens in a new window
Complete content of the British newspapers, The Guardian (1821 - 2003) and The Observer (1791- 2003) including all articles, editorials, advertisements and photographs.
The Times (London) Digital Archive This link opens in a new window
Complete searchable content of The Times, the world’s oldest continuously published newspaper, from 1785 to 2014 including all articles, editorials, advertisements, and photographs.
Sunday Times (London) Historical Archive This link opens in a new window
Complete searchable content of The Sunday Times from 1822 to 2021 including all articles, editorials, advertisements, and photographs.
Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers This link opens in a new window
In this database, you will find full-text content and images from numerous newspapers from a range of urban and rural regions throughout the U.S. The collection encompasses the entire 19th century, with an emphasis on such topics as the American Civil War, African-American culture and history, Western migration and Antebellum-era life.

Find Primary Sources in Digital Collections on the Web

Center for the Study of Political Graphics
An educational and research archive that collects, preserves, documents, and exhibits posters relating to historical and contemporary movements for social change.
David Rumsey Historical Map Collection
A collection of 16th through 21st century maps of North and South America, as well as maps of the World, Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania.
Digital Library of the Caribbean
Digital Public Library of America
This resource brings digital collections from America’s libraries, archives, and museums together, and makes them freely available to the world.
Fordham University Library – Latin American & Caribbean Primary Sources:
Google Books
Google Books is a collection of digitized books and periodicals. If the book is out of copyright, or the publisher has given its permission, the entire text. If it's in the public domain, you're free to download a PDF copy.
Harvard Latin America Pamphlet Digital Collection
Scarce and unique pamphlets, primarily from Chile, Cuba, Bolivia and Mexico, published during the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Hathi Trust
The HathiTrust Digital Library brings together the immense collections of partner institutions in digital form.
LANIC-Latin America Network Information Center
A portal for Latin American Studies content.
Latin American Travelogues
A digital collection of Latin American travel accounts written in the 16th-19th centuries.
Library of Congress
This collection features materials from the Library of Congress.
National Security Archive
The National Security Archive is an invaluable online collection of more than 100,000 declassified records documenting historic U.S. policy decisions.
SALALM-Latin American and Caribbean Primary Sources
This site hosts a database of listings that provide links to open access digitized collections of primary sources that relate to Latin America and the Caribbean. Currently, the listings may be searched by country, genre/format, hosting institution, and collection title.
Slave Voyages
The SlaveVoyages website is a collaborative digital initiative that compiles and makes publicly accessible records of the largest slave trades in history.
UT Austin Online Map Collection
Yale University - Latin American And Caribbean Primary Sources