Research Librarian
Spain
Here are some starting points for finding primary sources related to Spain:
- PARES: Portal de archivos espanolesA portal and database created by Spain's Ministerio de Cultura containing more than twenty million documents and digital images from the principal Spanish archives, including the Archive of the Indies and Archive of the Spanish Civil War.
- Biblioteca Digital HispanicaCreated by the Biblioteca Nacional de Espana (BNE), the Biblioteca Digital Hispanica (BDH) makes available the digitized versions of many important works held by the BNE. These works include manuscripts, books, engravings, drawings, posters, photographs and maps. The BDH website has a search engine and it also has links to other Spanish digitization projects.
- Biblioteca Virtual del Patrimonio BibliográficoProvides access to the digital facsimiles of hundreds of manuscript collections and and rare books from Spain.
Latinx/Latin America
Here are some starting points for finding primary sources related to Latinx & Latin American Studies:
- LACLIFree online resources for Latin American, Caribbean, Latinx, and Iberian studies, managed by the Latin America Northeast Libraries Network (LANE).
- Digital Archive of Latin American and Caribbean EphemeraThe Digital Archive of Latin American and Caribbean Ephemera is a steadily growing repository containing a previously unavailable subset of Princeton’s Latin American Ephemera Collection as well as newly acquired materials being digitized and added on an ongoing basis.
- LLILAS Benson Digital CollectionsDigitized images and documents from the history of Latin America from the Benson Latin American Collection at UT Austin.
- Onda LatinaConsists of 226 digitally preserved audio programs including interviews, music, and informational programs related to the Mexican American community and their concerns from the radio series "The Mexican American Experience" and "A esta hora conversamos" the Longhorn Radio Network, 1976-1982.
- Biblioteca Digital MexicanaLa BDMx es una plataforma de acceso gratuito en la que encontrarás documentos históricos y colecciones fotográficas que muestran la grandeza de México.
- dLOC: Digital Library of the CaribbeanMaps, oral histories, legal documents, books and other sources from and about the Caribbean and circum-Caribbean.
- Latin American Network Information Center (LANIC)LANIC's mission is to facilitate access to Internet-based information to, from, or on Latin America. Access by country and topic. Updated through 2015.
Tip: What are primary sources?
A primary source is essentially any record or artifact from a given era that provides original documentary evidence of the time—like a snapshot of a given experience, taken by someone who was there. Secondary sources, such as books or articles, often draw heavily from primary sources, such as letters, diaries, or interviews, to make representations or interpretations of a period under study.
A few examples of primary sources include diaries, photographs, letters, government documents, and newspaper and magazine articles (from the period under study).
Want to learn more? Visit the Primary Sources Research Guide.