LibGuides: Latinx and Latin American Studies: Find Primary Sources

Primary Sources

What is a primary source?
Primary sources at the Leatherby Libraries

Primary sources are materials that provide firsthand accounts of events by people who participated in or were present at the time the event occurred. Some examples of primary sources are letters, diaries, speeches, company records, government documents, films, photographs, Tweets, maps, audio recordings, posters, postcards, or other materials. According to the Library of Congress, "Primary sources provide a window into the past—unfiltered access to the record of artistic, social, scientific and political thought and achievement during the specific period under study, produced by people who lived during that period."

Primary Source Databases:

CQ Historic Documents This link opens in a new window Reports on approximately 70 important world events each year from official or other influential reports and surveys, to speeches from leaders and opinion makers, to court cases, legislation, testimony, and much more. Terms of Use. Coverage: 2013-2016.
Latinx Thought and Culture: The NPR Archive, 1979-1990 This link opens in a new window Showcases two radio programs: the weekly Spanish-language Enfoque Nacional (1979-1988) and the Daily English-language Latin File (1988-1990). Terms of Use. Coverage: 1979-1990.
North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries, and Oral Histories This link opens in a new window Over 100,000 pages of personal narratives from immigrants to the U.S. and Canada including letters, diaries, pamphlets, autobiographies, and oral histories. Terms of Use. Coverage: 1840-present.

Search the Frank Mt. Pleasant Library of Special Collections and Archives.

Loretta Sanchez papers The Loretta Sanchez papers span from 1994 to 2016. The papers mainly contain government records and some government publications regarding her election contest as well as her congressional caucus and committee work.
Mendez v. Westminster Archive (digital archive) The archive contains material dealing with the historic Mendez et. al. v. Westminster et. al. trial of 1945. Several of the collections are from principal participants on both sides of the case.
The Michael Madrid Mendez Pamphlet Collection This collection contains material donated by Professor Mike Madrid, Ph.D., Education Director at Chapman University, and consists of two pamphlets that are related to the Mendez et al. v. Westminster et al. civil rights trial as well as one spiral bound publication, in which he authored an article entitled: "The Mendez Case as Neglected History and Missing Curriculum", in the "4th Annual Summer Institute on Leadership for Educational Justice: Conference Proceedings", held at the University of Redlands' School of Education, on July 29, 2008. This collection contains of material donated by Professor Mike Madrid, Ph.D., Education Director at Chapman University, and consists of material that is related to the Mendez et al. v. Westminster et al. civil rights trial.

Archives, Repositories, and Other Primary Source Collections

The Aztec Pantheon and the Art of Empire The Aztec Pantheon and the Art of Empire explores the parallels between two great empires—the Aztec and the Roman. Celebrating the 2010 bicentennial of Mexican independence, the exhibition illuminates a dialogue between the New and Old Worlds that has shaped the modern contours of Mexico.
The Aztecs and the Making of Colonial Mexico his virtual exhibition is based on The Aztecs and the Making of Colonial Mexico, a display of original manuscripts, books, and other materials at the Newberry Library from September 28, 2006 through January 13, 2007. Ellen T. Baird and Cristián Roa-de-la-Carrera, both of the University of Illinois at Chicago, curated the exhibit. The virtual exhibit includes the complete text from the original gallery exhibit and digitized images of many of the manuscripts and books that were displayed.
Obsidian Mirror-Travels: Refracting Ancient Mexican Art and Archaeology This exhibition explores representations of Mexican archaeological objects and sites made from the Colonial era to the present.
Varias Fotografias The album contains collotypes of Mexican antiquities, primarily Mesoamerican ceramic or stone objects, as well as two colonial pieces. Most of the objects were photographed while on display in the former Museo Nacional de México. Also included are two views of the Pyramid of the Niches at the Totonac site of El Tajin.

Album of Mexican and French cartes-de-visite The album of cartes-de-visite by mostly unidentified photographers, assembled by an unknown person during the time of the French intervention in Mexico by an unknown person, contains photographs of Pre-Columbian related statuary; portraits of 19th-century Mexican presidents, military, and political figures; images of indigenous people and "tipos" depicting various types of Mexican street vendors and professions; portraits of figures from the French intervention; portraits of Napoleon III and family; and portraits of the compiler's family and friends.
Americas Archive The Americas collection strives to represent the full range and complexity of the Americas history by bringing together key documents that examines political and cultural relationships from a hemispheric perspective. Its goal is to represent the full range and complexity of a multilingual “Americas” that includes Canada, the Caribbean, and Latin America from the beginning of colonization to the present.
The Chairman Smiles The former Soviet Union, Cuba, and China: three countries where posters played an important political role and received a large amount of artistic attention. This is a selection of 145 political posters, famous masterpieces as well as equally beautiful but unknown examples drawn from the collection of the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam.
Collection of newspapers published by Latin American Labor Movements, 1892-1967 A collection of newspapers published by Latin American labor movements.
Cuban Poster Collection 1960-2000 A collection of Cuban posters built through a cooperative agreement between the University of California, Berkeley and the José Martí National Library of Cuba. The predominant subjects are Cuban culture and international solidarity.
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.
Dios y Su Pueblo: 250 Years of Mexican Religious Imprints Introduction This collection of printed ephemera, the oldest document of which dates to 1719 and the most recent to 1968, illustrates both the revolutionary changes and the subtle continuities that the Catholic Church of Mexico experienced through this turbulent 250 year period. Within it can be seen the obligations of the Church to the Crown during the colonial period, the challenges to ecclesiastic authority during the independence movement, the bitter disputes between liberals and conservatives during the Reform Era, and the drastic decline of the Church's power in secular matters after the Revolution. The authors contained in the collection represent all levels of the clergy, from archbishops to priests to mendicants, as well as independent citizens and the printers themselves. In addition to the official sermons, pastoral letters, orders of worship, and papal bulls issued by the leaders of the Church, the collection incorporates a wide array of pious hymns, poetry, prayers, catechisms, and devotional exercises, written and widely distributed so that people from every stratum of society could daily partake in religious worship and, in doing so, bring themselves closer to achieving God's salvation. While the works in Bridwell's collection certainly document the complexities of the Mexican Catholic Church's doctrines, politics, and the concerns of those at the top of its hierarchy, these imprints reveal much more about the popular piety of a deeply religious people as it changed over time.
Peveril Meigs Baja California Research Materials Photographs, journals, maps and related research materials on Baja California, Mexico, created by geographer Peveril Meigs III. Meigs conducted field research in northern Baja between 1925 and 1936 observing geology, climate, indigenous populations, mission sites, and local culture in preparation for his 1932 doctoral dissertation entitled "The Dominican Missions of Lower California" and his ethnographic monograph entitled The Kiliwa Indians of Lower California (1939).
Princeton's Latin American Ephemera Collection The Latin American Ephemera Collection contains thousands of digitized pamphlets, brochures, flyers, posters, placards and other printed items created since around the last quarter of the 20th century by a wide variety of social activists, non-governmental organizations, government agencies, political parties, public policy think tanks, and other types of organizations across Latin America, in order to publicize their views, positions, agendas, policies, events, and activities. The vast majority are rare, hard-to-find primary sources unavailable elsewhere.
Sociedad la Union Marti-Maceo Records La Unión Martí-Maceo was established near the turn of the 20th century as Los Libres Pensadores Marti-Maceo. Named for Cuban heroes Jose Martí and General Antonio Maceo, the organization functioned as a social and recreational society for members of Tampa’s Afro-Cuban community of cigar workers. The collection features records of the Afro-Cuban mutual aid society’s organizational documents and published works from the society’s library.
Tlatelolco Massacre: Declassified U.S. Documents on Mexico and the Events of 1968 The National Security Archive has assembled a collection of some of our most interesting and richly-detailed documents about Tlatelolco, many recently released in response to the Archive's Freedom of Information Act requests, all obtained from the secret archives of the CIA, FBI, Defense Department, the embassy in Mexico City and the White House. The records provide a vivid glimpse inside U.S. perceptions of Mexico at the time, and discuss in frank terms many of the most sensitive aspects of the Tlatelolco massacre which continue to be debated today: the political goals of the protesting students, the extent of Communist influence, Diaz Ordaz's response, and the role of the Mexican military in helping to crush the demonstrations.

Americas Archive The Americas collection strives to represent the full range and complexity of the Americas history by bringing together key documents that examines political and cultural relationships from a hemispheric perspective. Its goal is to represent the full range and complexity of a multilingual “Americas” that includes Canada, the Caribbean, and Latin America from the beginning of colonization to the present.
Buckaroos in Paradise: Ranching Culture in Northern Nevada, 1945 to 1982 Includes 41 motion pictures and 28 sound recordings, motion pictures produced from 1945 to 1965 by Leslie Stewart (owner of the Ninety-Six Ranch), 2,400 still photographs drawn from the Center's ethnographic field project conducted 1978-1982 and from historic photos dating 1870-1958. Background essays provide historical and cultural context for this distinctive northern Nevada ranching community. Buckaroos in Paradise: Ranching Culture in Northern Nevada, 1945-1982 presents documentation of a Nevada cattle-ranching community, with a focus on the family-run Ninety-Six Ranch. The focus was on the work of buckaroos, as cowboys are commonly called in the region.
Chicana/o Studies Oral History Project This project seeks to commemorate and document the formation of Chicana/o Studies through in-depth interviews with the first generations of scholars who shaped it.
El Teatro Campesino Archives CEMA 5 The archives of El Teatro Campesino are the largest archival collection on Chicano theater, consisting of approximately 157 linear feet of archives and manuscripts. They include a variety of formats, dating from the Teatro's founding in 1965. They include primary materials for researchers with an interest in theater arts, cultural arts, history, political science, labor relations, ethnic studies, sociology, antropology, and women's studies. Most materials are in English; some are in Spanish or a combination of the two languages. At least eight other languages are represented, an indication of the international interest in the Teatro.
Finding Aid to Archivos de las Misiones 1769-1856 Original documents and contemporary copies, emanating from or relating to the California missions. Include correspondence, circular letters, reports, accounts, a few padrones, and one book of marriages.
Independent Voices: Latino The Chicano press was an important component of the Chicano Movement to disseminate Chicano history, literature, and current news. The press created a link between the core and the periphery to create a national Chicano identity and community. The Chicano Press Association, created in 1969, was significant to the development of this national ethos. The publications that make up the Latino series have been linked to the Movement and represent the Chicano voice on such key issues as voter rights, criminal justice and relations with the police, support for the anti-war movement, racism, and quality education.
Latino Cultures in the US Presented by Google Arts & Culture, discover the contributions and experiences of Latinos in the United States through high-resolution images of artworks housed in partner museums.
Looking into the Westside: Untold Stories of the People 1900-1997 Eight youth historians investigated their heritage, neighborhoods, and terrain for the Westside Coalition, an umbrella organization for the various neighborhood associations of Tucson's Westside. The focus of their project was the 20th century stories of their parents, grandparents and great-grandparents as well as the stories of their peers.
Mapping the Movimiento: Places and people in the struggle for Mexican American Civil Rights in San Antonio Research for this tour utilizes archives from Special Collections housed at the UTSA Libraries and Institute of Texan Cultures and includes input from long-time community activists whose work was instrumental in calling for political, economic and educational reform.
Murguia Chicano Latino Periodicals Collection Collection of periodicals created by and about Chicano and Latinos collected by Alejandro Murguia, faculty San Francisco State University, and founding member and first director of the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts.
Photographs of Agricultural Laborers in California circa 1906-1911 Collection shows laborers from various ethnic groups (Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, Italian, "Hindu") working in the following locations: Sacramento (including Japantown), San Jose, San Francisco, Fresno, Los Angeles, Gilroy, and Merced. Photos show laborers in the fields, but also focus on their businesses, ranches, living conditions (including interiors of houses), street scenes, and children.
Puerto Rico at the Dawn of the Modern Age: Nineteenth- and Early-Twentieth-Century Perspectives Puerto Rico at the Dawn of the Modern Age encompasses historically important writings by prominent Puerto Rican political activists and historians dating from approximately seventy years before the Spanish-American war (1831) until some thirty years after it (1929). Texts from the postwar period include the only English-language works in the collection. Among these are soldiers' reminiscences about the conflict and short histories designed to acquaint an American audience with Puerto Rico in the earliest years of its affiliation with the United States.
With Our Own Eyes / Con Nuestros Propios Ojos Exhibit The Latino Outreach Council of San Luis Obispo was awarded a $30,000 grant by the California Council for the Humanities to support a photography project titled “With Our Own Eyes: Con Nuestros Propios Ojos” focusing on a community of immigrants from San Juan Nuevo Parangaricutiro, Michoacan, Mexico now residing in Paso Robles.

Brazil Cordel Literature Web Archive Brazilian chapbooks, known as literatura de cordel, are typically sold at street fairs, where the pamphlets are hung by string (cordel in Portuguese). They are a grassroots form of communication whose purpose is both education and entertainment. Cordel pamphlets serve the community by alerting them to health concerns such as dengue fever. They provide entertainment in the re- telling of folk tales and more importantly, they chronicle political, social, and cultural events... The Library’s Brazilian chapbook collection is one of the largest in the world, including more than 11,000 items, some as early as the 1930s.
Hispano Music and Culture of the Northern Rio Grande: The Juan B. Rael Collection Hispano Music and Culture of the Northern Rio Grande: The Juan B. Rael Collection is an online presentation of an ethnographic field collection documenting religious and secular music of Spanish-speaking residents of rural Northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado... The collection consists of approximately 8 hours of audio recordings (146 titles on 36 recording discs), 1 graphic image, and 218 pages of print material including administrative correspondence, recording logs, song text transcriptions, and publications.
I Am Joaquin An epic poem from the Chicano Movement which speaks of cultural identity and equal rights.
Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art is drawn from the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s pioneering collection of Latino art. Our wide-ranging holdings include works by artists of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, and Dominican descent, as well as other diasporic Latin American groups with deep roots in the United States.
The PALABRA Archive The PALABRA Archive at the Library of Congress dates back to 1943. Historically known as the Archive of Hispanic Literature on Tape (AHLOT), this collection contains nearly eight-hundred recordings of poets and prose writers participating in sessions at the Library’s Recording Laboratory and at other locations around Spain and Latin America. Recordings include sessions with Nobel Laureates Gabriel García Márquez, Juan Ramón Jiménez, Gabriela Mistral, Pablo Neruda, and renowned writers, Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortázar and Jorge Amado. To date, thirty-four countries are represented in the collection, and it includes readings in Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, French, Mayan, Náhuatl, Zapotec, Aymara, English and Dutch.
Royal Chicano Air Force Archives Extensive collection of slides and silkscreen prints, along with administrative records, news clippings, correspondence, exhibition descriptions and flyers, photographs, creative writings, and miscellaneous publications of the Sacramento-based artists collective. Founding members of the RCAF include José Montoya, Esteban Villa, Juanishi V. Orosco, Ricardo Favela, and Rudy Cuellar (CEMA 8).
Selecciones Cubanas: Selections from the Papers of Cuban American Artists at the Archives of American Art The papers of Cuban Americans at the Archives of American Art include the primary source material of painters, sculptors, photographers, collectors, dealers, critics, historians, and curators as well as records of several galleries and a museum. This online exhibition was created in an effort to reveal, through primary source documents, the creativity in the lives of five important and influential Cuban artists: Enrique Riverón, Ramón Guerrero, Humberto Dionisio, Arturo Rodríuez and his wife, Demi, and to provide a sampling of the Archives' Cuban American resources.