Researching Latin American History

Research Tools for Latin American History

mola, hand-stitched by women of the San Blas Islands off Panama Use the links below to research issues in US-Latin American relations and Latin American history and culture. These are the most important research tools for the field. Use primary and secondary sources, but NEVER CITE TERTIARY SOURCES (encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other third-hand resources). You may use tertiary sources to gain quick, basic background, but they are never appropriate citations in university-level research. If you come across other databases, sites, or finding aids that you found useful, please inform Dr. Slatta so that he can add the resource to this list.

Most Important, Must-Use Finding Aids

  1. Handbook of Latin American Studies/ Library of Congress The most important reference when doing Latin American research. Yields expertly annotated bibliographical citations.
  2. America: History and Life Bibliographical Database Yields annotated bibliography of books and articles on US history and culture, with coverage of US-Latin American relations, Latinos, immigration, and border issues.
  3. Historical Abstracts May also be accessed from America: History and Life. Covers non-US history, including extensive coverage of Latin America. Yields annotated bibliography of good scholarly journals and books.
  4. JSTOR Search Page Search for and access full texts of scholarly articles. You may also use JSTOR to search for images in scholarly articles and to search ArtStor, a large database of paintings, portraits, and other images.
  5. MLA international bibliography For cultural studies (film, folkore, drama, literature, media), be sure to use this database. It "contains over 1.5 million citations from more than 4,400 journals and series and 1,000 book publishers; coveres subjects include literature, language and linguistics, folklore, literary theory & criticism, dramatic arts, as well as the historical aspects of printing and publishing. Coverage: 1963-present.

    Other Useful Resources

  6. Ingenta (formerly Carl/ Uncover) Bibliographical database of scholarly and popular articles published since 1988. Do keyword searches.
  7. History Section, D. H. Hill Electronic Databases Page. Scroll down the alphabetical list to locate databases of interest.
  8. Google Scholar Advanced Search Find articles written in a particular journal, by a particular author, or within a particular time span.
  9. Latin Americanist Research Resources Project Includes the Latin American Periodicals Tables of Contents (LAPTOC), a searchable Web database covering the tables of contents of more than 800 journals, primarily in the humanities and social sciences, published in Latin America; Latin American Open Archives Portal (LAOAP), a portal service providing access to social sciences grey literature produced in Latin America by research institutes, non-governmental organizations, and peripheral agencies; and Presidential Messages database with digital images of over 75,000 pages of presidential speeches from the early 19th century to the present from Mexico and Argentina.
  10. Use generic search engines, like Google and Yahoo, but be certain that the site meets scholarly standards.
  11. Additional Libarry of Congress Hispanic Reading Room Internet Resources
  12. Library of Congress Hispanic Reading Room
  13. Links and Data on Iberia, the Caribbean, and Latin Americ
  14. LA GUIA: Internet Resources for Latin America Compiled and copyrighted by Molly Molloy, New Mexico State University Library, Las Cruces, New Mexico.
  15. Duke University Links to Latin America, Spain & Portugal
  16. UNC-Chapel Hill Institute of Latin American Studies Internet Resources

    Links to Specific Topics

  17. Latin American History Links Use the menu at the top to locate information on a wide range of online materials.
  18. Links for US-Latin American Relations
  19. Pre-Columbian and Colonial Latin American History
  20. US Interventions in Latin America Links compiled by Yvette Hernández, Mayaguiez, Puerto Rico
  21. Latin American Press Links Read Latin American perspectives on the news (English and foreign-language links)
  22. Historical Research and Writing Links