HIST 464: Topics - Latin American History

Secondary sources are often the best places to find primary sources. Take a look at the bibliography of the books and articles on your topic, which will point you to useful and important documents from the period you are studying. The author will likely have done a considerable amount of legwork already. The titles in the background information section listed above also have extensive bibliographies that include primary source material.

Searching for primary sources is more difficult than searching for secondary sources, because the search terms you use must be selected differently. While secondary sources have a specific historiographical purpose - i.e. to recount the history of an event, era, etc. - primary sources are useful almost accidentally. An entire secondary source can be devoted to a topic that is treated only as one of many in a primary source. Therefore, it is important to think more broadly when coming up with search terms. For example, descriptions of indigenous peoples might be noted in a few pages of someone's travel diary of the Americas. It might be necessary to browse or skim several travelogues to find relevant sources, since the title or subject heading of the work might not reflect all of its contents.

Primary Source Collections

• Colección de documentos inéditos, relativos al descubrimiento, conquista y organización de las antiguas posesiones españolas de América y Oceanía
• Partially available online
• Chronological Index of documents
• Colección de documentos inéditos relativos al descumbrimiento, conquista y organización de las antiguas posesiones espánolas de Ultramar
• Partially available online
• Print edition available at Concordia University Library
• Coleccion de documentos para la historia de la formacion social de hispanoamerica, 1493-1810
• Vols. 1-2 available at UdeM. Vols. 2-3 available at UQAM.
• Colección documental del descubrimiento, (1470-1506)
• Conquistadors: the struggle for colonial power in Latin America, 1492-1825
• Available on microfilm from CRL
• Guide to the collection
• Sabin Americana, 1500-1926

Catalogue

The following are useful terms found in subject headings in the library catalogue that can be used to locate potential primary sources.  In the advanced search, enter these terms in the 'subject' filed along with terms specific to your topic.

• Correspondence
• Description and travel
• Diaries
• Personal narratives
• Sources

HathiTrust

The HathiTrust is a collection of over 10 million digitized books held in major research libraries around the world. Unlike the library catalogue, every book in the HathiTrust is full-text searchable. It is a treasure trove of primary sources. Search using the same subject headings suggested above along with terms specific to your topic.

Government documents

Two important UK and US government document databases provide an official record of these countries' involvement in the extraction/economy/politics of natural resources in Latin America.

• House of Commons (UK) Parliamentary Papers
• U.S. Congressional Serial Set

Center for Research Libraries

McGill is a member of the Center for Research Libraries, which allows you to access to their vast collection of primary source material on Latin America. You can request any item you find in their catalogue be sent to McGill via Interlibrary Loan.