Databases for Latin America & Caribbean Studies

Latin American and Caribbean Databases at the University of Illinois. This is a link to a central location of all research databases that the University of Illinois Library has a subscription to.

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Archives Unbound – Latin America and the Caribbean Since its inception in 2009 the Archives Unbound program has published more than 230 titles. The roots of the program are on microfilm. The Archives Unbound program consists of more than 290,000 documents totaling 12 million pages. Particular strengths in this catalog include U.S. foreign policy; U.S. civil rights; global affairs and colonial studies; and modern history. Some of the archives include in the collection focused on Latin American & Caribbean studies includes the U.S. State Department records about the Mexican Revolution and its aftermath (1910-1921), including more than 120,000 images; archives about Foreign Relations between Latin America and the Caribbean States (1930-1944), covering a wide range of political, social, and economic issues, with over 100,000 documents, considering cables, memoranda, correspondence, reports and analyzes, and treaties; a collection of the Federal surveillance of the Partido Independentista Puertorriqueño, containing more than 10,000 documents highlighting the FBI’s efforts to disrupt the activities of the largest of the Puerto Rican independence parties, and over 16,000 documents about Feminism in Cuba from the independence to the end of the Batista regime in the 1950s, shedding light on Cuban feminism, women in politics, literature by Cuban women and the legal status of Cuban women.

Biblioteca Digital de la Biblioteca Nacional José Martí, Cuba  This digital repository includes almost 400 works published by over 70 Cuban writers since the 17th century. It is possible to search by author and period of time and the works are available for download in pdf format and the collection is partially available as audiobooks. There are also available key annotated bibliographies of Cuban literature in general and about authors, such as José Martí or Dulce Maria Loynaz. The databases available in the Biblioteca Nacional include digital access to over 15,000 posters and a database of photos about Cuban buildings. The website, the search options, and the material is in Spanish.

Biblioteca Digital Cubana This website provides free access to hundreds of digitized books on topics such archives, archaeology, natural sciences, history and geography, economics, and literature, as well as newspapers and magazines published in Cuba since the 1700s. There are also available some historical maps and pictures through secondary sources.  Throughout the Biblioteca Histórica Americana (BHA), the website also provides access to historical material about the Caribbean published in Spanish, French, Italian, and English.

Biblioteca Digital del Patrimonio Iberoamericano (BDPI). The BDPI, a product of the Association of National Libraries of Ibero-America (ABINIA), is a digital library that centralizes the digital collections of numerous Latin American and Caribbean Libraries, often National Libraries.

Biblioteca Virtual del Banco de la República (Colombia). La Biblioteca Virtual del Banco de la República, creada en 1997 por la Red de Bibliotecas del Banco de la República, busca poner a disposición del público, materiales, contenidos e información, en su mayoría sobre Colombia o de autores colombianos, que pueda ser consultada por Internet desde cualquier parte del país o del mundo. Contiene materiales en diferentes formatos, organizados en colecciones temáticas. En ella puede encontrar libros, imágenes, archivos sonoros y de video, páginas interactivas, exhibiciones en línea, proyectos temáticos, y materiales educativos. De igual forma busca, a través de la investigación de las colecciones patrimoniales, poner a disposición del público nuevos contenidos, que den valor agregado a los mismos y que sean de interés para diferentes tipos de públicos.

Biblioteca Virtual de Puerto Rico The website, created and maintained by Javier Almeyda Loucil, provides free access to hundreds of primary sources about the political, economic, social, and cultural Puerto Rican history. There is available a basic search option and the material is organized by topics, such as agriculture, biography, economics, newspapers, radio, folklore, or political parties, among many others. In Spanish.

Brasil: Nunca Mais Digital A collection of more than 900,000 pages that document abuses and repression in Brazil during the Military Dictatorship (1964-85). It provides access to original documents, as well as summaries and media archives. The database is searchable by political organization and states of the case. The website is available in Portuguese, English, and Spanish.

Caribbean Diaspora Oral History Project This multimedia project is part of the Digital Collections developed by the University of Miami. It includes interviews from leading individuals from the South Florida community addressing topics such as art and media, education, entrepreneurship, and activism and their links with their Caribbean heritage.

Catálogo Colectivo de Impresos Latinoamericanos. Colonial books until 1851, (CCILA) is an ongoing effort to catalog the printed heritage of Latin America and the Philippines before 1851. As a bibliography, it provides a census of surviving works. As a union catalog, CCILA will list institutional holdings for those works and will endeavor to identify microfilm and digital surrogates. It is a large-scale cooperative effort, designed to involve every library in Europe, the Americas, or the Philippines possessing relevant materials.

Cuban Heritage Collection It is a multimedia archive that is part of the Digital Collections developed by the University of Miami. It includes over 700 audio and videos such as interviews, lectures, jingles, and other historical visual material from Cuban popular culture produced both in the island and in Florida.

Confidential Print: Latin America This is one of the collections included in the Archives Direct, from The National Archives, UK. The Confidential Print series, issued by the Foreign and Colonial Offices since around 1820, is one of the most important series produced by the British Government. The documents about Latin America cover the whole of South and Central America, plus the non-British islands of the Caribbean, from just after the final Spanish withdrawal from mainland America in the 1820s to the height of the Cold War in the 1960s. The documents included in this collection cover revolutions, territorial changes and political movements, foreign financial interests, industrial and infrastructural development (including the building of the Panama Canal), wars, slavery, immigration from Europe, and relations with indigenous peoples, among other topics.

Digital Archive of Latin American and Caribbean Ephemera. The Digital Archive of Latin American and Caribbean Ephemera is the latest and most ambitious phase in Princeton’s long time commitment to building and providing access to its unparalleled Latin American Ephemera Collection. Even though a significant number of items from earlier years have been included, the 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. The vast majority are rare, hard-to-find primary sources unavailable elsewhere.

Digital Library of the Caribbean (DLoC) This is a cooperative digital library for resources from and about the Caribbean and circum-Caribbean. It provides access to digitized versions of Caribbean cultural, historical and research materials currently held in archives, libraries, and private collections. Some of the collections available are about, for instance, Panama and the canal, Vodou, and Caribbean newspapers. The map collection outlines a vast inter-continental region, including the area stretching from Florida westward along the Gulf Coast waters of the United States of America, along with the backbone of Central America and across northern South America.

Digital Library of Latin American and Caribbean Sports (DLLACS). The site aims to serve as an online bibliography that points scholars to resources for the study of sports and recreational activities across the continent. Not all of the items in the site are digitized and in open access. Instead, it serves as a clearinghouse to identify primary historical sources relating to sport, recreation, and physical education, their location, and scope. It also serves as a gateway to other web portals, online periodicals, and collections about Latin America and the Caribbean sports around the globe.

Digital National Security Archive The nongovernmental National Security Archive consists of expertly curated, and meticulously indexed, declassified government documents covering U.S. policy toward critical world events from 1945 to the present. It includes 48 collections, consisting of approximately 120,000 indexed documents. In particular, the material includes presidential directives, memos, diplomatic dispatches, meeting notes, independent reports, briefing papers, White House communications, email, and confidential letters. The collections covering Latin American and Caribbean issues cover, for instance, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the U.S. influence in domestic policies in countries such as Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Mexico, and Guatemala.

Early American 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, under the general editorship of Professor Ralph Bauer.

Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) Digital Repository The ECLAC Digital Repository provides access to more than 35,000 digital publications, from the first publication of ECLAC in 1948 to the most recent. All Documents are available in full-text.

El Caribe (Dominican Republic). El Caribe (“The Caribbean”) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper published in Santo Domingo and is one of the Dominican Republic’s most influential and longest-running newspapers. Founded in 1948 under the repressive Trujillo regime (1930-1961), the newspaper has borne witness to decades of political uncertainty, economic development, and social change. Except for brief interruptions in publication for a month in 1962 and seven months in 1965, El Caribe has been a constant chronicle of national and international news, both for the Dominican Republic and the broader Caribbean region. Source: CRL/GPA.

Fuentes Históricas del Perú. Collection of historical sources from or about Peru, ranging from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries. The project was undertaken by several local Peruvian historians.

Gazeta de Puerto Rico La Gazeta was the official newspaper of the Spanish government in Puerto Rico and, therefore, is a primary research source for studying the colonial Spanish regime through the 19th century. The newspaper offers detailed information about the colonial government in Puerto Rico, including reports from the governor, treasury, trade, postal services, royal decrees, and political appointments. It contains unique and valuable data collected through population censuses held in the island, provides general news portraying daily and cultural life, and major disasters that affected the Island were fully reported. The access is provided through the Library of Congress of the U.S. and includes browsing the issues published between 1836 and 1902.

Hathi Trust Digital Library HathiTrust Digital Library is a digital preservation repository and highly functional access platform. It provides long-term preservation and access services for public domain and in-copyright content from a variety of sources. This digital library has currently digitized over 15 million of total volumes, more than 7 million corresponding to book titles. Almost 40 percent is in the public domain. There is not only available an advanced research tool and several collections, but it also allows to build your own collection.

Independent and Revolutionary Mexican Newspapers The Independent and Revolutionary Mexican Newspapers collection traces the evolution of Mexico during this pivotal period. Comprising over 1,000 titles from Mexico’s pre-independence, independence and revolutionary periods (1807-1929), the newspapers in this collection provide rare documentation of the dramatic events of this era and include coverage of Mexican partisan politics, yellow press, political and social satire, as well as local, regional, national and international news.

Latin American and Caribbean Digital Primary Sources The Latin American and Caribbean Digital Primary Sources portal lists open access digital portals to primary sources for the use of historical research. Each item is annotated and the list is organized into six main categories: “Historical Texts by Country“, “Historical Texts/General“, “Statistics“, “Visual Material by Country“, “Visual Material General“, and “Miscellaneous.” The site is hosted and maintained by SALALM, the association of Latin American Librarians. Currently, inclusion in the list is reserved for portals in created and maintained by SALALM member institutions. Portals are added frequently, so you are encouraged to visit periodically.

Latin American Databank The LAD provides a portal for Latin American datasets acquired, processed and archived by the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, at Cornell University. The collection includes data from public opinion surveys conducted in Latin America and the Caribbean by universities, institutes, individual scholars, private polling, and public opinion research firms. Studies are searchable by location, decade, whether correspond to multi-country researches. It also includes a map. The website includes video tutorials and a blog. The Rope Center has , , and .

Latin American Economic History Database This database presents statistical series of a wide range of economic and social indicators from 20 countries through all the XX century. It covers topics such as labor market, industry and trade, and demography, among others. The website is available in English and Spanish. It is supported by is a partnership between the Economic and Social History Programme (PHES), of the Universidad de la República, Montevideo, and the Latin American Centre and the Department of International Development, Oxford University.

Latin American Ephemera: Digitized Microfilm Sets. In time, Latin American Ephemera: Digitized Microfilm Sets will include approximately 350 thematically and geographically organized sub-collections, ranging in size from a handful of items to hundreds of them, that were assembled and microfilmed between the mid-1970s and the early 2000s. Among the topics most commonly addressed by the collections are politics, human and civil rights, gender and sexuality, race and ethnicity, environment and ecology, education, labor, health, and socioeconomic conditions.

Latin American Newspapers Collection, 1805-1922 It is a database that provides online access to digitized historical newspapers published in the 19th and 20th centuries in LLatinAmerica, the Caribbean, Spain, and Portugal. It includes full version of thousands of issues published in the late 19th century and early 20th century. The criteria of searching are titles, places of publication, dates, and the language in which they were published.

Latin American Open Archives Portal (LAOAP) The Latin American Open Archives Portal is a project of the Latin Americanist Research Resources Project – LARRP, in collaboration with the Latin American Network Information Center – LANIC, to improve access to social sciences grey literature produced in Latin America. The portal provides access to working documents, pre-prints, research papers, statistical documents, and other difficult-to-access materials from the “deep Web.” Typically, this content is published by research institutes, non-governmental organizations, and peripheral agencies that are not controlled by commercial publishers.

Latinobarómetro It is an annual public opinion survey from the Latin American Public Project at Vanderbilt University involving over 20,000 interviews in 18 Latin American countries. The website is available in Spanish.

Luso Brazilian History and Culture: Oliveira Lima Library Pamphlets The archive contains pamphlets from the personal library of Brazilian diplomat Manoel de Oliveira Lima (1867-1928). Most of the pamphlets in the collection are on Brazilian subjects or their authors are Brazilian; the majority were published in Brazil or Portugal. Within the online archive, Portuguese is the language of 91 percent of the pamphlets. All Brazilian provinces and states are represented, either topically or as places of publication. The most important subject areas are history, politics and literature. Other topics include social and economic conditions, travel, agriculture, immigration, indigenous peoples, religion, women’s rights, the press, infrastructure, the First World War, to mention a few. The years of publication for the pamphlet collection within the Library itself range from 1801 to 1983 and the online archive includes pamphlets through the early 1920s along with a number of later public domain publications.

Memoria Chilena It is a website supported and maintained by the National Library in Chile. There are digitized historical newspapers and magazines, letters, photos, maps, and visual material. There are historical and classical Chilean works of historians, writers, and intellectuals since the independence of the country. The website is in Spanish.

Primeros Libros de las Americas: Impresos Americanos del siglo XVI en las Bibliotecas del Mundo Open access full text digitized copies of incunabula and other early books from the Americas. You can browse by owning institution, language, year, printer, author, and keyword. There are tutorials and other resources to help you navigate the site and resources. Explore the site in Enlgish or Spanish.

Red Histórica de Venezuela.  The Venezuelan Digital History Network Foundation (Venezuela History Network), seeks the development of digital humanities through the retrieval, digitization and free access of files, collections and references of Venezuelan and Latin American historical memory.

Sabin Americana: History of the Americas, 1500-1926. Based on Joseph Sabin’s landmark bibliography (Bibliotheca Americana: A Dictionary of Books Relating to America from Its Discovery to the Present Time), this collection contains works about the Americas published throughout the world from 1500 to the early 1900’s. Included are books, pamphlets, serials and other documents that provide original accounts of exploration, trade, colonialism, slavery and abolition, the western movement, Native Americans, military actions and much more. With over 6 million pages from 29,000 works, this collection is a cornerstone in the study of the western hemisphere.

Slavery, Abolition & Social Justice This digital collection brings together primary source documents from archives and libraries across the Atlantic world, allowing to explore and compare unique material relating to slavery, abolition, and social justice. Documents, maps, images, and court records are available for searching and downloading. The advanced option allows to narrow the search by region, theme, library, and document type. Among the key areas of focus, the collection includes slavery in the early Americas, slavery and agriculture, slave testimony, and spiritualism, among other. Case studies from specific countries, such as Brazil and Cuba, are also available.

Slavery and Anti-Slavery Archive Slavery and Anti-Slavery it is transnational archive about the transatlantic slave trade, the global movement for the abolition of slavery, the legal, personal, and economic aspects of the slavery system, and the dynamics of emancipation in the U.S. as well as in Latin America, the Caribbean, and other regions. The database provides access to more than 5 million of cross-searchable pages, over 12,000 books, manuscripts, court records, among other primary sources regarding slavery in the world. The archive is supported by several partners, such the Amistad Research Center, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, the British Library, Oberlin College, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the University of Miami, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, among many other institutions.

Slavery & Anti-Slavery Pamphlets from the Libraries of Salmon P. Chase & John P. Hale (1830-1867) The 166 slavery and anti-slavery pamphlets included in ProQuest Civil War Era expand on individual perspectives of government officials, clergy, social reformists, and others. The pamphlets collections are from the libraries of Salmon P. Chase and John P. Hale.

The Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America (AILLA). AILLA is a digital language archive of recordings, texts, and other multimedia materials in and about the indigenous languages of Latin America. AILLA’s mission is to preserve these materials and make them available to Indigenous Peoples, researchers, and other friends of these languages now and for generations to come. The look and feel of this new site has been updated, and some user functionality has been added, including the ability to perform a keyword search across all collections, as well as the ability to stream and view some media files without having to download them first. Access to AILLA and its resources is always free of charge. Most of the resources in the collection are available to the public, but some have special access restrictions.

 

Latin America en Video Latin America in Video offers quality original language documentaries from some of the most important producers and independent filmmakers in Latin America. The films were produced in Latin America, by Latin Americans, about Latin American issues, such as cultural identity, political history, human rights, popular culture, agribusiness, education, religion, and much more.

Latin American Visuals online repository It is a unique resource featuring materials gathered by Latin Americanist scholars from multiple institutions for use by students and scholars alike. By combining these materials on one web site, individuals will be able to experience the rich culture, heritage, and natural beauty of Latin America and Antarctica.

Latin American, Caribbean, Latinx, and Iberian resources (LACLI). Per website’s description, this is a “repository of free online resources for Latin American, Caribbean, Latinx, and Iberian studies! LACLI is an essential tool to find websites that provide access to a great variety of resources such as audiovisual materials, books, data, ephemera, government documents, oral histories, periodicals, reference works, visual materials, web archives and more!”

Bibliografía de la Literatura Española desde 1980  Comprehensive database of works of Spanish literature published since 1980, including books, periodical articles, book reviews, bibliographies and conference proceedings.

Biblioteca Virtual en Salud (Virtual Health Library) Latin American and Caribbean Center on Health Sciences Information (fka Regional Library of Medicine, BIREME), is a Pan American Health Organization World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) focus on the democratization of access, publication, and use of the health information, knowledge and scientific evidence in health the region.

Caribbean Knowledge Management Center The Caribbean Development Portal was developed by ECLAC to enhance the diffusion of knowledge about the current state of economic and social development in the Caribbean. As an aggregator of reports and statistics from national, regional, and global organizations, it aims to increase the visibility of these resources, and thereby provide a service for researchers seeking information to support development efforts in the region.

Chicano Databaselock  Produced by the Ethnic Studies Library at the University of California, Berkeley, this bibliographic index covers a wide range of materials focused on the Mexican-American and Chicano experience, as well as the broader Latino experience of Puerto Ricans, Cuban Americans and Central American immigrants since 1992.

Classic Mexican Cinema Online A database of five historic film periodicals, illuminating the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema (1930s-1960s). The database also gives access to the personal scrapbook of pioneering filmmaker Fernando de Fuentes (1894-1958), as well as to a collection of fifty rare lobby cards.

Columbia International Affairs Online Includes working papers from university research institutes, occasional papers series from NGOs, foundation-funded research projects, proceedings from conferences, books, journals and policy briefs, original case studies written by leading international affairs experts, course packs of background readings for history and political science classes.

Digitalia Digitalia is an index of ebooks and ejournals where with access to high-quality content in Spanish Language. Thousands of ebooks from the most renowned Spanish and Latin American Publishing Houses, as well as relevant journals that cover all topics of interest.

Directory of Open Access Repositories (OpenDOAR)

LILACS – Literatura Latinoamericana y del Caribe en Ciencias de la Salud. LILACS  es una base de datos administrada con procesos tecnológicos automatizados y líderes locales (Coordinadores LILACS) responsables de su gestión en sus países, y tiene la curaduría hecha por profesionales de más de 800 instituciones de salud, universidades y centros de investigación (Centros Cooperadores), equipos editoriales responsables de más de 800 revistas y comités de evaluación de revistas formados por expertos en editoria científica en salud. La base de datos también retrata el resultado de la investigación y su aplicación reflejada en las políticas de salud pública de millones de autores asignados en instituciones de salud e investigación que produjeron los más de 833 mil artículos de revistas, más de 100 mil libros y series monográficas, más de 54 mil tesis y disertaciones y más de 13 mil documentos gubernamentales. Actualmente, LILACS se utiliza como fuente de información para revisiones sistemáticas, guías de práctica clínica, ensayos clínicos y otros tipos de estudios como mapas de evidencia, vitrinas del conocimiento y segundas opiniones formativas. LILACS da visibilidad a la producción científica y técnica publicada regionalmente y que no está indexada en bases de datos internacionales.

Mapeo de las Intervenciones de Seguridad Ciudadana en Centroamérica This website provides access to data, legislation, news, research, and analysis on Central America security. Supported by the Inter-American dialogue, the portal uncovers topics such as citizen security, gangs, drug policy, and international cooperation, among others, in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, and the US. It is available in English and Spanish

EBSCO Latino Literature   Latino Literature brings together more than 100,000 pages pages of poetry, fiction, and over 450 plays written in English and Spanish by hundreds of Chicano, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Dominican, and other Latino authors working in the United States. Among the gems of the collection are nearly 800 items (poems, novels, and plays) that have never been published before. Researchers will also find numerous Chicano folk tales and audio files of selected poems and plays. It contains over 133,465 pages.

Researching Brazil Devised as a tool to support research in Brazilian Studies, Researching Brazil/Pesquisa no Brasil is both a bibliographic index and a gateway to online resources relevant to the field. The site provides a searchable index of Brazilian scholarly journals and contains additional relevant resources, including a news page, an online directory of institutions, a bibliography of print sources, and links to selected websites relevant to researchers.

Academic Search Complete

A popular resource found in many academic settings worldwide, this resource was designed for the premier researcher, rich with the most valuable, comprehensive multidisciplinary content available. As a leading scholarly database, it provides access to acclaimed full-text journals, magazines, and other valuable resources.

CQ Researcher

CQ Researcher provides award-winning in-depth coverage of the most important issues of the day. Our reports are written by experienced journalists, footnoted and professionally fact-checked. Full-length articles include an overview, historical background, chronology, pro/con feature, plus resources for additional research.

Historical Abstracts (Ebsco)

Provides selective indexing of historical articles from thousands of journals in a wide variety of languages. Coverage includes the history of the world (excluding the United States and Canada) from 1450 to the present, including world history, military history, women’s history, history of education and much more.

Humanities and Social Sciences Retrospective 1907-1984

A bibliographic database that cites articles from English-language periodicals. Periodical coverage includes some of the best-known scholarly journals and numerous lesser-known but important specialized magazines. Coverage includes a wide range of interdisciplinary fields covered in a broad array of humanities and social sciences journals.

IBZ: International Bibliography of Periodical Literature in the Humanities and Social Sciences

IBZ has been the leading international and interdisciplinary reference work documenting academic periodical literature in the humanities, social sciences and related fields for over a hundred years. The spectrum of subjects covered is unrivalled: in no other database are academic journals from so many fields covered. Publications from 40 countries in more than 40 languages are taken into consideration

JSTOR

Originally containing digitized back issues of academic journals, this database now also includes books and primary sources, and current issues of journals. It provides full-text searches of almost 2,000 journals.

Periodicals Archive Online

Periodicals Archive Online is a major archive that makes the backfiles of scholarly periodicals in the arts, humanities and social sciences available electronically, providing access to the searchable full text of hundreds of titles. The database spans more than two centuries of content, 37 key subject areas, and multiple languages.

Linguistics & Language Behavior Abstracts (Proquest)

A multi-disciplinary database of more than 4,600 magazines and journals, including full text for nearly 3,900 peer-reviewed titles. In addition to the full-text, this database offers indexing and abstracts for 8,470 journals.

Project MUSE

Project MUSE is a leading provider of digital humanities and social sciences content; since 1995, its electronic journal collections have supported a wide array of research needs at academic, public, special, and school libraries worldwide. MUSE books and journals, from leading university presses and scholarly societies, are fully integrated for search and discovery.

Web of Science Database

Made up of the Science Citation Index Expanded, Social Sciences Citation Index, and Arts & Humanities Citation Index) Arts and HumanitiesCitation Index