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Sabin Americana, 1500-1926

Times of London

 

Library Workshop:  Latin American Independence

 

Part I. Reference Books covering the Latin American Independence Movements

In general, reference books in history are designed to do one of the following:

1. provide specific facts or data in short, factual entries (dictionaries, almanacs, chronologies)

2. offer general background information or summarize scholarship on a particular topic in longer interpretive articles (encyclopedias, handbooks)

3. provide references to past or recent scholarship on a particular topic (bibliographies, guides to the literature). Major sources of this type can be quite broad and offer references on a variety of historical fields; many specialized bibliographies are also available on a single region, person or topic.

Of course, some reference books may serve more than one function: a handbook may summarize scholarship and also provide a selected bibliography.

See the History tab for recommended reference works.

Published Material: Primary and Secondary Sources

Historical researchers investigate the past using both primary and secondary sources.

Primary Sources can be defined as anything representing a first-hand account of an event or time in history.

The primary sources can be published or unpublished.

Secondary sources are scholarly books or articles that are based on an examination of primary sources, the author's reading of other secondary works, or a combination of both.

 

 

Part II: Published Material
     A. Secondary Sources: Locating Books

BobCat allows users to search for books by author, title, subject or any combination of these. When searching for books by topic, use the "subject" or "subject word" search. Determine the proper subject headings or keywords by asking a librarian, looking at Bobcat entries for similar books, or consulting the Library of Congress Subject Headings. This 6-volume set is available in the catalog area on the first floor and in all Reference Centers. LC headings consist of a main word or phrase and, very often, additional phrases linked by hyphens (known as subdivisions). See, for example, the following subject headings:

When using a subject word or keyword search it is not necessary to remember the order of these words. You do, however, need to use the appropriate words and phrases.

Bobcat allows both a "subject word" search and a "word" search. The "subject word" search looks for your terms within the subject headings. The "word" search looks for your terms within all parts of the record (including the author, title, and subject heading).

If you want to combine search terms using the Boolean operators and, or and not, you'll need to use the subject word or word search.

Part II: Published Material
     B. Secondary Sources: Locating Articles

Typically, articles deal with a more focused or narrow topic than books, they reveal current research interests, and are at times a forum for initial publication or reexamination of a specific primary source.

In order to find articles, you need to use an Index. Most indexes are now available on the web. Key indexes for research in Latin American history are listed below.

 

• Handbook of Latin American Studies (HLAS ONLINE) & (HLAS WEB), 1936-
  A multidisciplinary bibliography and index on Latin America consisting of works selected and annotated by scholars.
• PRISMA or the Hispanic American Periodicals Index (HAPI), 1975-
  Indexes, from 1970- , more than 500 scholarly journals devoted to Latin American topics, with useful subject approach. The majority of journals covered in this index are published in Latin America. Many of the major Latin American journals published in the U.S. are also included.
• Historical Abstracts
  Indexes journal articles and books on the history of the world including Latin America . U.S. and Canadian history are excluded.
• PAIS International
  Provides citations to articles, books, reports, and select government documents on U.S. and international public policy issues. Generally considered to be a comprehensive index to policy literature.
• America : History & Life - Indexes journal articles and books on the history of the U.S. and Canada . Includes historical scholarship related to U.S. foreign policy in Latin America .

 

Part II: Published Material
     Primary Sources: Published Primary Sources

When searching for primary sources in the library keep in mind these three points:

1.   The more remote in time your research topic, the fewer primary sources will be available.
2.   To a considerable extent, researchers in the pre-twentieth-century era are hampered by a lack of tools (indexes and bibliographies) to facilitate their search.
3.   Political, constitutional and diplomatic history are the most extensively documented subfields; primary sources for social history can be more difficult to locate.

In general, to find published primary source material, you should use a subject word search or an exact subject phrase in BobCat for your topic, and add the terms:

·         Sources ·         Personal Narratives

·         Description and Travel ·         Correspondence

 

Examples of Library of Congress subject headings related to the Latin American Independence Movements include:

 

o       Mexico -- History -- Wars of Independence, 1810-1821

o       Bolívar, Simón, 1783-1830

o       South America -- History -- Wars of Independence, 1806-1830

o       Peru -- History -- War of Independence, 1820-1829

o       Miller, William, 1795-1861

o       Arenales, Juan Antonio Alvarez de, 1770-1831

o       Chile    History   War of Independence, 1810-1824

Examples of published primary sources –

• Iturbide, Agustin de. A Statement of the Principal Events in the Public Life of Agustin de Iturbide, written by himself. Washington: Documentary Publications, 1971, Bobst F1232 .I8313x
• Rayon, Ignacio. La Independencia segun Ignacio Rayon. Mexico: Secretaria de Educacion Publica, 1985, Bobst F1232 .L89 I53 1985
• Niles, John M. A View of South America and Mexico. Hartford:H. Huntingdon, 1844, Bobst F1408 .N 69
• Restrepo, Jose Manuel. Historia de la Revolucion de la Republica de Colombia. Paris: Liberia Americana, 1827, Bobst F2274 .R37 t.2-t.10
• Bolivar, Simon. General Simon Bolivar, libertador-presidente de la Republica de Colombia: Autobiografia. Buenos Aires: Impr. Lopez, 1945, Bobst F2235 .3 .A15 1945
• Gomez de Mier, Eugenio. Gaceta de Buenos Aires (1810). Buenos Aires: Docenia, 2006, Bobst F2845 .G14

See also the side panel for the primary source databases such as

• Sabin Americana, 1500-1926 contains information about North, Central and South America, the Arctic and Antarctica and the West Indies. This resource offers original accounts of exploration, pioneering, settlement, the western movement, military actions, Native Americans, slavery and abolition.
• Making of Modern Economy
• America's Historical Newspapers
  
• Eighteenth Century Collections Online
• APS
• LexisNexis Congressional Universe
• Times of London

Also, keep in mind full text source material available via Google Books. For example, see the advanced search option on Google Books and look up the following:

• Fajardo, Manuel Palacio. Outline of the Revolution in Spanish America. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown, 1817
• Robertson, William Davis. Memoirs of the Mexican Revolution. London: Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mayor and Lepard, 1821
• Dunn, Henry. Guatimala, or The United Provinces of Central America, in 1827-8. New York: G & C. Carvill, Broadway, 1824