Latin American History

SEMINAR ON THE ACQUISITION OF LATIN AMERICAN LIBRARY MATERIALS - A web portal to major primary research materials dealing with Latino(a)s in the United States.  Includes significant collections at UCLA, University of Texas at Austin, UC Berkeley, and the University of Miami.

Directorio Web de Archivos Iberoamericanos
Provides links to more than 300 Latin American archives with a web presence. Arranged by country and type of archive

Online Archive of California (California Digital Library) provides free public access to detailed descriptions of primary resource collections maintained by more than 150 contributing institutions including libraries, special collections, archives, historical societies, and museums throughout California and collections maintained by the 10 University of California (UC) campuses.

UNESCO Archives Portal:  National Governments/Military Latin America - An international gateway  for archivists and archives users to web sites describing archives (some with digital content)

Government documents are an important source of information about Latin America. U.S.  State Department reports and Congressional hearings provide rich sources of information from experts about the region.   Some major sources include:

The United Nations: The United Nations is an international organization founded in 1945 after the Second World War by 51 countries committed to maintaining international peace and security, developing friendly relations among nations and promoting social progress, better living standards and human rights.

Foreign Relations of the United States 1947:   the official diplomatic record of U.S. relations with other countries.  Includes important speeches, communiques between State Department officials and diplomats.   There is normally a moratorium on  The more recent volumes are available online.  Older printed volumes are located in the Social Sciences and Humanities Library Government Documents Area  Call number:  S1,1: year

Congressional Hearings 1789: The official record of testimonies, reports, discussions held in Congressional committees.  Most of them are available online through the database Proquest Congressional which also includes bills, reports, legislative history, Congressional Research Service reports, committee prints, and public laws.

Brazilian Government Documents  (Center for Research Libraries) – Executive Branch serial documents from Brazil 1821 to 1993.  Also includes Presidential Messages.

Latin American Government Documents Archive (LAGDA)  Web archiving service maintained by the University of Texas at Austin capturing ministries and presidents of 18 Latin American Countries.

Washington Office on Latin America  WOLA’s online resources, background briefings, publications, memos, and  delegations to and from the region are important sources of timely, authoritative information for journalists, scholars, policymakers and the public. 

Brazilian Government Documents  (Center for Research Libraries) – Executive Branch serial documents from Brazil 1821 to 1993.  Also includes Presidential Messages.

Latin American Government Documents Archive (LAGDA)  Web archiving service maintained by the University of Texas at Austin capturing ministries and presidents of 18 Latin American Countries.

Latin American Women Writers  Latin American Women Writers is an extensive searchable collection of prose, poetry, and drama composed by women writing in Mexico, Central America, and South America. Also included are essays by Latin American feminists and revolutionaries, who address both the universal concerns of women in every age and the distinctive issues of their struggles in the region

Political Database of the Americas   (Georgetown University) – extensive information about political  systems and constitutions, electoral data and systems,  political parties, indigenous peoples, democracy and political participation for most Latin American

Presidential Messages (Latin American Research Resources Project)
The Presidential Messages database contains digital images of more than 75,000 pages of f Mexican and Argentinian presidential speeches from the early 19th century to the present.

Grey literature is that body of material that is normally published by research organizations, non-governmental bodies, grass roots movements, think tanks, etc. that fall outside the realm of major commercial or academic publishers.   Frequently, their publications are only available online - often as part of larger databases.  

Important sources of information for grey literature include:

Latin American Open Archives Portal (LAOP)- a portal service providing access to social sciences grey literature produced in Latin America by research institutes, nongovernmental organizations, and peripheral agencies.

CIAO:  Columbia International Affairs online. [Hunter only] Full text of working papers, conference proceedings, policy briefs, economic indicators and other resources in international affairs.

ARTstor [Hunter Only]
ARTstor Digital Library is comprised of 300,000 images digital images and their corresponding data and the tools to make active use of those images. Includes contemporary images in photography covering political and social events.

NYPL Digital Gallery The Digital Gallery "provides free and open access to over 700,000 images digitized from the The New York Public Library's vast collections, including illuminated manuscripts, historical maps, vintage posters, rare prints, photographs and more."