HIS 4100 - Social History of Latin America
Encyclopedias
(Getting basic background for your research topic)
Cambridge Encyclopedia of Latin America and the Caribbean . 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.
Visually attractive volume arranged by subject areas, each of which provides an excellent introduction. The work aims to cover as many topics as possible. There are bibliographies of works in English, plus useful maps and tables.
[ASU Main Stacks F1406 .C36 1985 ]
Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture . 5 vols. New York : Scribner's; Macmillan Library Reference USA, 1996.
[ASU Reference F1406 .E53 1996 v.1-5 ]
Example : See "Guarani Indians" article in Vol. 3 . Each encyclopedia article has a bibliography of books and articles on the topic you can then look for in ASU 's book or article databases
Encyclopedia of Contemporary Latin American and Caribbean Cultures . 3 vols. London ; New York : Routledge, 2000
[ASU Reference F1406 .E515 2000 v.1-3]
Article Databaese & Indexes
Historical Abstracts . Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-Clio, 1955- . The best known index for history, this covers the world since 1492 (except the U. S. and Canada). It covers Latin America fairly well, but should be used in conjunction with The Handbook of Latin American Studies [Be sure to not click on "American History and Life" database by mistake] Consider limiting to "English" and to "articles".
Handbook of Latin American Studies . Gainesville: Univ. of Florida Pr, 1935- . Annual.
A serial bibliography based at the Hispanic Division of the Library of Congress that provides selective, annotated information about books and journal articles. An attractive feature of the print version is the presentation by noted scholars of bibliographic overviews for each field and many subfields. Since 1964 the volumes alternate coverage every year between social sciences and humanities. The online version is complete since 1935.
[ASU REFERENCE Z 1605 .H23];
[URL: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/hlas/ ]
Project Muse 1966- Full Text:
[ Tip: Limit to "article and consider excluding the main text from the search. Example search: "Guarani and Jesuit"]
JSTOR Full Text: specializes in making available the back issues of academic journals in a wide variety of humanities and social science disciplines. Issues are available both as images and as text. Searching is possible within each title and across the whole database.
[ Tip: Check journal subjects of interest, for example, "Latin American Studies" and "History," before doing the search. Try a search by title or by abstract rather than a search of the full-text] Example search: "women and latin america and politics and rights."]
For articles related to current events use the library's newspaper databases or try the following:
Infotrac OneFile , 1988-present. Compiled from over 1,500 international and domestic newspapers, journals, news magazines, newsletters, and other sources. Many articles are in full text. [Example search: "women and rights and bolivia"]
Academic Search Elite , 1984-present; (Full Text: - 1990-present)
Books
Library Catalog
Search three-library consortium of ASU, UNCA, and WCU for books available with a couple of days..
Keyword [Example: women and Mexico and rights ]
TIP : When a relevant book is found by keyword in the Library Catalog, find others that are similar by clicking on the subject headings assigned to it.
[For example: A keyword search of " slavery and argentina " yields a book with the subject " Blacks -- Latin America -- History " which uncovers three other related books.]
TIP : Examine the works cited ( bibliography) at the end of books found for references to other works in the area of your interest. Also examine works cited for references to primary sources used by the authors. Get those through interlibrary loan (see below).
To Find Books from Other Libraries:
WorldCat Search over 40 million records cataloged by libraries throughout the world. Primarily books , but also includes manuscripts, videotapes and other formats. Use this to search for primary sources, such as correspondence and diaries of major players, diplomatic dispatches, official state decrees and legislation, etc.
Primary Sources
A primary information source is a record of events that are described or recorded by
someone who either participated in or witnessed the events firsthand. Examples include
newspaper accounts, letters, diaries, notebooks, and interviews .
Some primary materials can be found at ASU Library.
Examples include :
1) Published writings of figures in Latin American History such as: Simon Bolivar, Manuel González Prada, and Bartolome De Las Casas.
2) Newspaper articles covering historical events in Latin America during the time found in
New York Times from 1857 to the present on microfilm is indexed in The New York Times Index. The index is located at ASU Reference AI21 .N452
Most older primary materials related to church/state relations in Latin American history will need to be obtained through interlibrary loan (ILLiad) from larger research institutions which archive them (Use (ILLIAD) via Quick Links or WorldCat to request them.) Expect to wait at least a week or two for your ILL materials to arrive.
And if you feel like driving...
UNC-Chapel Hill has an impressive Latin American archival collection which ASU students may use. A list of research institutions (other than UNC-Chapel Hill) with substantial collections of Latin American resources can be found at: http://www.lib.unc.edu/cdd/crs/international/latin/internet/collections.html
Internet Sites
LANIC : Use the University of Texas LANIC site [ http://www.lanic.utexas.edu/la/region/history/ ], to find a number of useful sources that include book archival information, texts of historic documents, etc. More history sites can be accessed through LANIC's country links [ http://www.lanic.utexas.edu/ ]
Digital Librarian Latin American Resources
NMSU's Internet Resources for Latin America The links in this guide compiled by Molly Molloy, librarian at the New Mexico State University Library.
Prepared by Allan Scherlen, scherlnag@appstate.edu - Feb. 5, 2004