LibGuides: History Resources: Latin America

Primary Sources for Latin American History

Revolution and Protest Online This link opens in a new window
Research and learning database providing in one place comprehensive, comparative documentation, analysis, and interpretation of political processes through the lens of revolutions, protests, resistance and social movements. This easily searchable collection examines the most studied and important events and themes related to revolution and protest from the 18th century through the 21st century.

Collections on the Web:

Biblioteca Digital del Patrimonio Iberoamericano (BDPI)
Providing a portal to the digitized collections of national libraries from across Latin America, BDPI is a project of the Asociación de Bibliotecas Nacionales de Iberoamérica (ABINIA). This link goes to the English-language version of the site.
Digital Archive of Latin American and Caribbean Ephemera
This archive provides open access to a portion of Princeton University's Latin American Ephemera Collection. "[T}he bulk of the materials currently found in the Digital Archive were originally created around the turn of the 20th century and after, with some originating as recently as within the last year. The formats or genre most commonly included are pamphlets, flyers, leaflets, brochures, posters, stickers, and postcards. These items were originally created by a wide array of social activists, non-governmental organizations, government agencies, political parties, public policy think tanks, and other types of organizations in order to publicize their views, positions, agendas, policies, events, and activities."
Digital Library of the Caribbean
“The Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC) is a cooperative digital library for resources from and about the Caribbean and circum-Caribbean. dLOC provides access to digitized versions of Caribbean cultural, historical and research materials currently held in archives, libraries, and private collections.”
Early Americas Digital Archive
"The Early Americas Digital Archive (EADA) is a collection of electronic texts and links to texts originally written in or about the Americas from 1492 to approximately 1820. Open to the public for research and teaching purposes, EADA is published and supported by the University of Maryland Libraries’ e-Publishing Initiative."
Latin American Network Information Center (LANIC)
“LANIC's mission is to facilitate access to Internet-based information to, from, or on Latin America. Our target audience includes people living in Latin America, as well as those around the world who have an interest in this region. While many of our resources are designed to facilitate research and academic endeavors, our site has also become an important gateway to Latin America for primary and secondary school teachers and students, private and public sector professionals, and just about anyone looking for information about this important region.” Sponsored by the University of Texas at Austin.
World Digital Library
Digitized primary source documents, images, and more from libraries and cultural heritage institutions from across the globe. "Launched in 2009, the World Digital Library (WDL) was a project of the U.S. Library of Congress, with the support of UNESCO, and contributions from libraries, archives, museums, educational institutions, and international organizations around the world."

Latin American News Sources

Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
Nexis Uni provides full-text access to over 15,000 news, business, and legal sources, including access to international news. To narrow your news results to sources from a particular country, go to the grey sidebar on the left of your search results. Under "location by publication," select "international," then the continent/region, then the name of the country.
To access Nexis Uni from off-campus, you must first register (create an account) while on campus.
1. Access Nexis Uni through the Augustana College library website (choose “Databases A-Z” from the drop-down menu at the bottom).
2. Click Sign In / Register in the top right.
3. Click Create a profile now on the right.
4. Enter your name and your Augustana email address.
5. Complete the sign-in profile.
6. After the username and password you have entered is verified, it will become active.
From off-campus, USE THIS LINK to access Nexis Uni (scroll down to find "Nexis Uni" on the landing page).
Keeping your access active: In order to keep access active, users are required to sign in from an on-campus computer or device every six months to maintain authorization.
NewspaperArchive This link opens in a new window
NewspaperArchive is a collection of smaller newspapers from around the world. Most global papers are in the local language (not English). To limit to papers from Latin America, click "Go to Advanced Search" then use the "Narrow by Location" feature.

OnlineNewspapers.com: South & Central America
This website collects various Latin American news sources. Click the name of the country you are researching to find a list of newspapers with links to their websites. The language(s) of each paper is indicated.
Historical Worldwide Newspapers Online: Latin America
This LibGuide from Bowling Green State University links historical Latin American newspapers that are free online.

United States News Sources

Historical New York Times (1851-2017) This link opens in a new window
The historical New York Times offers full text and image coverage of the newspaper from 1851 to 2017. For access to more recent New York Times articles, go to US Newsstream.
Historical Chicago Tribune (1849-1997) This link opens in a new window
Offers full text and image coverage of the newspaper from 1849 to 1997. For more recent Chicago Tribune articles, go to US Newsstream.
US Newsstream This link opens in a new window
News content from many national and international newspapers, newswires and selected news magazines, including the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the Boston Globe, the Chicago Tribune, the Denver Post, USA Today, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and the Christian Science Monitor. Coverage from 1980 to the present.

The following books collect major primary source documents, translated into English, from various Latin American countries. They're a great place to start for the most important primary sources related to the topic you are researching.

The Argentina Reader: History, Culture, Politics by Gabriela Nouzeilles and Graciela Montaldo, eds.
Call Number: F2810 .A646 2002 (3rd floor)
Publication Date: 2002
Consult the table of contents on Google Books to determine whether the collection includes sources on your topic.
The Brazil Reader: History, Culture, Politics by Robert M. Levine and John J. Crocitti, eds.
Call Number: F2521 .B768 1999 (3rd floor)
Publication Date: 1999
Consult the table of contents on Google Books to determine whether the collection includes sources on your topic.
The Colombia Reader: History, Culture, Politics by Ann Farnsworth-Alvear, Marco Palacios, and Ana María Gómez López, eds.
Call Number: F2258 .C677 2017 (3rd floor)
Publication Date: 2017
Consult the table of contents on Google Books to determine whether the collection includes sources on your topic.
The Costa Rica Reader: History, Culture, Politics by Steven Palmer and Iván Molina, eds.
Call Number: F1546 .C765 2004 (3rd floor)
Publication Date: 2004
Consult the table of contents on Google Books to determine whether the collection includes sources on your topic.
The Cuba Reader: History, Culture, Politics by Aviva Chomsky, Barry Carr, Alfredo Prieto, and Pamela María Smorkaloff, eds.
Call Number: F1776 .C85 2019 (3rd floor)
Publication Date: 2019
Consult the table of contents on Google Books to determine whether the collection includes sources on your topic.
The Ecuador Reader: History, Culture, Politics by Carlos de la Torre and Steve Striffler, eds.
Call Number: F3731 .E37 2008 (3rd floor)
Publication Date: 2008
Consult the table of contents on Google Books to determine whether the collection includes sources on your topic.
The Guatemala Reader: History, Culture, Politics by Greg Grandin, Deborah T. Levenson, and Elizabeth Oglesby, eds.
Call Number: F1466 .G877 2011 (3rd floor)
Publication Date: 2011
Consult the table of contents on Google Books to determine whether the collection includes sources on your topic.
The Mexico Reader: History, Culture, Politics by Gilbert M. Joseph and Timothy J. Henderson, eds.
Call Number: F1226 .M53 2002 (3rd floor)
Publication Date: 2002
Consult the table of contents on Google Books to determine whether the collection includes sources on your topic.
The Peru Reader: History, Culture, Politics by Orin Starn, Robin Kirk, and Carlos Iván Degregori, eds.
Call Number: F3431 .P478 2005 (3rd floor)
Publication Date: 2005
Consult the table of contents on Google Books to determine whether the collection includes sources on your topic.

Tredway Library and I-Share have a large variety of books--both print and electronic--that you may wish to consult as primary sources. In OneSearch (below), begin at the Advanced Search screen and limit to "Library holdings only" for books at Augustana or "All I-Share libraries" to search across Illinois.

Search by author to find a book by a prominent historical figure. Example:

Screenshot of a search at the Advanced Search screen. "Che Guevara" is typed in the top box. "Author/Creator" is selected in the first drop-down menu.

To find an edited collection of primary sources on a historical topic, search the topic in one box (keep the topic broad!) and the word "sources" as a Subject in the other box. Example:

Screenshot of a search at the Advanced Search screen. "Cuba" is typed in the top box. "Sources" is typed in the box below, with "Subject" selected from the second drop-down menu to the left.