The purpose of the guide is to help you locate secondary sources and published primary sources for your research paper in this class.
Online resources are hyperlinked; other resources (print, microform) are linked to catalog records with complete holdings information. Links are indicated by underscoring.
I. Catalogs
- University of Illinois Online Catalog. See the Guide to using the Online Catalog
- I-Share Catalog. The fastest way to request materials not available here. I-Share is a union catalog covering all libraries in the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois (CARLI). Turnaround time for requests is usually about 48 hours.
- WorldCat. See our FirstSearch Quick Guide
- Online Research Resources. A catalog of electronic resources available to students and faculty. Use especially to find e-journals, indexes, and full-text collections like Project MUSE.
- Google Books. See University of Michigan’s Google Books Search Guide.
II. Secondary Sources
Finding Secondary Sources
Indexes
- Historical abstracts / America : History & Life. Coverage: 1954-present. Over 1,700 journals indexed
- Hispanic American Periodicals Index (HAPI). Coverage: 1970-present.
- JSTOR. Searchable full text collection of over 70 journals in the field of history. Focuses on back issues. For more recent scholarship (1 to 5 years), use Project MUSE (below).
- Project MUSE. Searchable full text collection of over 50 history journals. Search JSTOR and Project MUSE simultaneously using the Project MUSE Advanced Search.
- Web of Knowledge. Includes Arts and Humanities Citation Index (1975-present) and Social Sciences Citation Index (1970-present).
- History Cooperative. Searchable full text collection of over 20 journals.
- Digital Dissertations (ProQuest). Citations to dissertations written since 1861. Dissertations written since 1980 include abstracts. Over 750,000 dissertations available for immediate download. See our ProQuest Quick Guide.
- Google Scholar. Will need to configure: Scholar Preferences > Library Links > Find Library > Check University of Illinois and > Save Preferences.
Bibliographies
To find bibliographies in the Catalog, browse subject headings and look for sub-division “bibliographies”. E.g.: “Latin America –Bibliography” or “Mexico–History–Bibliography”. Or browse by call number: 016.98 for bibliography of Latin America; 016.981 for bibliography of Brazil; and so forth.
- Colonial Central America : a bibliography including materials on art and architecture, cultural, economic, and social history, ethnohistory, geography, government, indigenous writings, maps and plans, urbanization, bibliographic and archival documentary sources.
- Latin American studies : an annotated bibliography of core works.
- Handbook of Latin American Studies. A searchable online bibliography from the Library of Congress.
- Latin America and the Caribbean : a critical guide to research sources.
- Latin American studies : a basic guide to sources.
- Latin America and Caribbean : a directory of resources
- Latin America : a guide to the historical literature.
- A bibliography of Latin American bibliographies published in periodicals (2 vols.).
- The historiography of Latin America : a guide to historical writing, 1500 to 1800. Earlier editions published under the title: Histories and historians of Hispanic America. Documents historians from the 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. Available in four editions; consult the Catalog for more information.
- Biographical dictionary of Latin American historians and historiography. Includes bibliography and an index by year of birth.
Selected List of Secondary Sources
Subject Encyclopedias
- Colonialism : an international, social, cultural, and political encyclopedia (3 vols.).
- Latin America : a guide to illustrations. A guide to images in published works. Organized by time period and then country. Coverage begins pre-European colonization.
- A reference guide to Latin American history. Includes chronologies, biographies, and bibliographies.
- Encyclopedia of Latin American history and culture. 5 vols.
Biographical Sources
- Biography and genealogy master index (Gale/InfoTrac). Online. Covers all time periods and nationalities.
- Biography resource center (Gale/InfoTrac). Online. Covers all time periods and nationalities.
- A list of Spanish residencias in the Archives of the Indies, 1516-1775 : administrative judicial reviews of colonial officials in the American Indies, Philippine and Canary Islands. A guide to unpublished archival material, but useful also for identifying names of residencias.
- A bibliography of the collective biography of Spanish America.
- Index to Spanish American collective biography. 4 vols.
- A bio-bibliography of Franciscan authors in colonial Central America.
- Colonial governors from the fifteenth century to the present; a comprehensive list.
- Biographical dictionary of audiencia ministers in the Americas, 1687-1821. Brief bographies of crown attorneys in Spanish America.
- The men of Cajamarca : a social and biographical study of the first conquerors of Peru.
III. Published Primary Sources
Digital technologies have vastly increased the range of primary source documents that can be made easily available to historians, and the possible channels for scholarly communication. You might be interested in two essays that explore some of the issues these new technologies raise for historians: The Pasts and Futures of Digital History and Tangled Web: The Limits of Historical Analysis on the Internet.
Historical Magazines
- Periodicals Archive Online (Chadwyck Healey). Covers 1770 to the present. Full text access to over 1.8 million articles from more than 500 periodical titles. titles. See our Chadwyck-Healey Quick Guide
- Periodicals Index Online (Chadwyck Healey). Electronic access to citations of over 16 million articles from more than 5,000 periodicals going back to 1665. See our Chadwyck-Healey Quick Guide
Other Primary Sources
Americana
- Early American Imprints, Series I. Evans. Online. Coverage: 1639-1800. Based on Charles Evans’s American bibliography 14 vols. Searchable, full-text collection of over 37,000 books, pamphlets, and broadsides published in the United States.
- Early American Imprints, Series II. Shaw-Shoemaker. Online. Coverage: 1801-1819. Based on Ralph Shaw and Richard Shoemaker’s American bibliography : a preliminary checklist for 1801-1819 23 vols. Searchable, full-text collection of over 36,000 books, pamphlets, and broadsides published in the United States.
- European Americana : a chronological guide to works printed in Europe relating to the Americas, 1493-1776 6 vols. Organized by country of publication.
- The literature of the encounter : a selection of books from European Americana : catalogue of an exhibition. An abridged version of “European Americana” (above.)
- An annotated catalog of original source materials relating to the history of European expansion, 1400-1800. Catalog to the James Ford Bell Library at the University of Minnesota.
- Early English Books Online (Chadwyck Healey). Online. Printed books from the British Isles and North America, 1473-1700.See our Chadwyck-Healey Quick Guide.
- Eighteenth century collections online (Gale). Online. Printed English-language books from the 18th century.
Cartographic Sources
- Map and Geography of Library. Houses over 32,000 maps of Latin America and the Caribbean.
- A guide to the historical geography of New Spain.
- An atlas of Hispanic American history (Wilgus 1932). Updated by Historical atlas of Latin America : political, geographic, economic, cultural (Wilgus 1967).
- Atlas of Hispanic-American history (Ochoa 2001).
- Historic Maps from the James Ford Bell Library. Browse by region. Features maps from 1545 to 1800.
- Early Maps from the Benson Latin American Collection Depicting Mexico, South America, and the Caribbean. Online. An exhibition of 30 maps.
Thematic Research Collections
- Empire Online. Supplements a range of primary source documents with essays, biographies, and a chronology. Can browse by topic, name, place, or broad thematic section: Cultural Contacts, 1492-1969; Empire Writing and the Literature of Empire; The Visible Empire; Religion and Empire; and Race, Class, Imperialism and Colonialism, 1607-2007.
- Early Encounters in North America: Peoples, Cultures, and the Environment. Online. Coverage includes Latin America.
- 1492 : an ongoing voyage. An online exhibition by the Library of Congress.
- The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Online.
- Colonial Latin American manuscripts and transcripts in the Obadiah Rich collection (33 microfilm reels + guide). Spanish and Portugese documents from 1492 to the nineteenth century. Guide includes name, title, and chronological indexes, and a bibliography of published sources.
Other Documentary Material
- New American world : a documentary history of North America to 1612 (5 vols.). Includes material relevant to Latin America, including historical maps.
- Five letters : 1519-1526. 5 translated letters of Cortes to the Emperor.
- Historical documents relating to New Mexico, Nueva Vizcaya and approaches thereto, to 1773 (3 vols.). With English translations.
- Annals of his time : Don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin.
- The Tlaxcalan actas : a compendium of the records of the Cabildo of Tlaxcala, 1545-1627.
- Mesoamerican voices : native-language writings from Colonial Mexico, Oaxaca, Yucatan, and Guatemala.
- Maya conquistador.
- Conquest of New Spain : 1585 revision.
- We people here : Nahuatl accounts of the conquest of Mexico.
- New Iberian world : a documentary history of the discovery and settlement of Latin America to the early 17th century (5 vols.).
- Letters and people of the Spanish Indies, sixteenth century. Translated into English.
Finding Aids on the Web
Below are guides to vetted content on the Web.
- Latin American History Resources on the World Wide Web.
- OAIster. Item-level access to content in digital research collections; this content is often hidden from Web search engines.
- BUBL Information Service. Directory of academic resources on the web.
- INFOMINE. Directory of scholarly resources on the web.
- ibiblio. A directory of freely available thematic research collections on the Web.
- Intute
- Voice of the Shuttle. Directory of humanities resources on the web.
- Internet Modern History Sourcebook.
IV. Dewey Decimal System and Latin American Studies
Browsing is a strategy for accessing the less-visible resources of a research collection–especially resources not well-covered by standard bibliographies and indexes. Exploit the classification structure to improve your browsing. Shelf browsing can be done in person, or through the Online Catalog by browsing call numbers. For the bibliography of each subject, prefix “016” to the subject’s class number. E.g. Bibliography of Guatemalan history: 016.97281 .
- 972
- Mexico. Bibliography of Mexico: 016.972
- 972.02
- Mexico –Conquest and colonial period (1519-1810). Bibliography: 016.97202
- 972.03
- Mexico –Revolutionary period (1810-1822).
- 972.8
- Central America.
- 972.802
- Central America –Conquest (1502-1535).
- 972.803
- Central America –Colonial period (1535-1821).
- 972.81
- Guatemala.
- 972.8102
- Guatemala –Conquest (1502-1524).
- 972.8103
- Guatemala –Colonial period (1524-1821).
- 972.82
- Belize.
- 972.8202
- Belize –Conquest and colonization (1502-1638).
- 972.8203
- Belize –(1638-1862).
- 972.83
- Honduras.
- 972.8302
- Honduras –Conquest (1502-1542).
- 972.8303
- Honduras –Colonial period (1542-1821).
- 972.84
- El Salvador.
- 972.8402
- El Salvador –Conquest (1524-1542).
- 972.8403
- El Salvador –Colonial period (1542-1821).
- 972.85
- Nicaragua.
- 972.8502
- Nicaragua –Conquest (1502-1527).
- 972.8503
- Nicaragua –Colonial period (1527-1821).
- 972.86
- Costa Rica.
- 972.8602
- Costa Rica –Conquest (1502-1560).
- 972.8603
- Costa Rica –Colonial period (1560-1821).
- 972.87
- Panama.
- 972.8702
- Panama –Conquest (1501-1514).
- 972.8703
- Panama –Colonial period (1514-1821).
- 972.9
- West Indies and Bermuda.
- 972.902
- West Indies and Bermuda –Conquest (1492-1608).
- 972.903
- West Indies and Bermuda –Colonial period (1608-1801).
- 972.91
- Cuba.
- 972.9102
- Cuba –Conquest (1492-1514).
- 972.9103
- Cuba –(1514-1763).
- 972.9104
- Cuba –(1763-1810).
- 972.92
- Jamaica and Cayman Islands.
- 972.9202
- Jamaica and Cayman Islands –(1494-1607).
- 972.9203
- Jamaica and Cayman Islands –(1607-1832).
- 972.93
- Dominican Republic.
- 972.9302
- Dominican Republic –Conquest and early colonial period (1492-1608).
- 972.9303
- Dominican Republic –(1608-1801).
- 972.94
- Haiti.
- 972.9402
- Haiti –Spanish rule (1492-1625).
- 972.9403
- Haiti –French rule (1625-1804).
- 972.95
- Puerto Rico.
- 972.9502
- Puerto Rico –Conquest and early colonial period (1493-1602).
- 972.9503
- Puerto Rico –(1602-1804).
- 972.96
- Bahama Islands.
- 972.97
- Leeward Islands.
- 972.98
- Windward and other southern islands.
- 972.99
- Bermuda.
- 980
- South America. Latin America.
- 980.013
- South America –Conquest and colonial period (1498-1806).
- 980.02
- South America –Struggles for independence (1806-1830).
- 981
- Brazil.
- 981.03
- Brazil –Colonial period (1500-1822).
- 982
- Argentina.
- 982.02
- Argentina –Conquest and colonial period (1516-1810).
- 982.03
- Argentina –Struggles for independence (1810-1829).
- 983
- Chile.
- 983.02
- Chile –Conquest (1535-1560).
- 983.03
- Chile –Colonial period (1560-1810).
- 984
- Bolivia.
- 984.02
- Bolivia –Conquest (1532-1559).
- 984.03
- Bolivia –Colonial period (1559-1809).
- 984.041
- Bolivia –Struggles for independence (1809-1825).
- 985
- Peru.
- 985.02
- Peru –Conquest (1519-1555).
- 985.03
- Peru –Colonial period (1555-1808).
- 985.04
- Peru –Struggles for independence (1808-1824).
- 986
- Colombia and Ecuador.
- 986.01
- Colombia.
- 986.0102
- Colombia –Colonial period (1550-1810).
- 986.103
- Colombia –Struggles for independence (1810-1819).
- 986.6
- Ecuador.
- 986.602
- Ecuador –Colonial period (1562-1810).
- 986.603
- Ecuador –Struggles for independence (1810-1822).
- 987
- Venezuela.
- 987.02
- Venezuela –Conquest (1498-1528).
- 987.03
- Venezuela –Colonial period (1528-1810).
- 987.04
- Venezuela –Struggles for independence (1810-1821).
- 988
- Guiana.
- 988.01
- Guiana –Early history to 1815.
- 988.1
- Guyana
- 988.101
- Guyana –Early history to 1815.
- 988.2
- French Guiana.
- 988.3
- Surinam.
- 988.301
- Surinam –Early history to 1815.
- 989
- Paraguay and Uruguay.
- 989.2
- Paraguay.
- 989.202
- Paraguay –Conquest (1524-1537).
- 989.203
- Paraguay –Colonial period (1537-1811).
- 989.204
- Paraguay –Struggles for indepednece (1811-1814).
- 989.5
- Uruguay.
- 989.502
- Uruguay –Conquest (1516-1724).
- 989.503
- Uruguay –Colonial period (1724-1811).
- 989.504
- Uruguay –Struggles for independence (1811-1830).