Middleton Library's collection of books about Latin American and Caribbean History is shelved on the third floor. Most of the materials are shelved in the call number range F1201 through F3799. Territories and protectorates of the United States are in the range F965 through 975. All of the books are searchable in the library's online catalog. For help using the catalog, click here or visit the reference desk.
Special Collections in Hill Memorial Library also has many books about Latin American and Caribbean History. These, too, can be searched in the online catalog. To limit your search to Special Collections, use the advanced search feature and select Hill Memorial Library under the library tab. This can be a good way of finding primary sources, since many of the books in Special Collections are first-hand accounts of historical events.
Separate guides to published materials in Special Collections are available for some topics, including Latin American History, Caribbean History, Antislavery Literature, and Proslavery Literature. Included among the collection are facsimiles of a number of pre-Columbian codices.
To search for books in other North American and (to a limited extent) Latin American and European libraries, try WorldCat. You may have better results in searching Latin American and Caribbean libraries by going to the individual library catalogs. The Latin American Network Information Center provides a comprehensive list of the major libraries of Latin America.
One of the largest collections of books and archival materials in the U.S. related to Latin America is located in nearby New Orleans at Tulane University’s Latin American Library.
You can also search individually through the following full-text article databases and indexes. Click each link to learn more.
History Reference Center
America: History and Life
C19: Nineteenth Century Index
JSTOR
Project Muse
Web of Knowledge
Ingenta
PAIS International
PAIS Archive
The Latin American Network Information Center provides a comprehensive list of the major archival collections in and related to Latin America.
Repositories of Primary Sources is a directory of over 5,000 archives websites worldwide. It includes a list of repositories in Latin America and the Caribbean.
You can find archives / manuscript collections in U.S. and some European repositories by searching in the databases below:
Archive Finder
Archive Grid
WorldCat (use Advanced Search and limit type to Archival Materials)
Be aware that although they overlap to some extent, each database has material not in the others. Also keep in mind that records are brief and do not list every single item or person referred to in the collection. You may have to contact the archive and see if they have a more detailed finding aid or inventory.
Also be aware that many institutions have not fully cataloged their holdings, and some repositories, especially small historical societies and private or business archives, have not reported their holdings to these databases. Sometimes the best thing to do is a simple web search.
The largest local archive of Latin American materials is at Tulane University’s Latin American Library. A smaller selection of materials related to this region is available in the LSU Libraries’ Special Collections.
OPEN-ACCESS DIGITAL LIBRARIES:
The largest free, open-access digital libraries are Google Books, the Hathi Trust Digital Library, and Europeana. All contain materials related to Latin American and Caribbean Studies.
There is a growing number of digital libraries specifically devoted to Latin American and Caribbean materials. An extensive list is available from the Johns Hopkins University Libraries.
Many historical Latin American and Caribbean newspapers have been digitized. See:
List of Online Newspaper Archives
Historical Worldwide Newspapers on the Internet
Historical Newspapers Online
Topic-specific open-access digital resources from the LSU Libraries' list of databases:
The Atlantic Slave Trade and Slave Life in the Americas: A Visual Record
Handbook of Latin American Studies
DIGITAL LIBRARIES REQUIRING LSU LOGON:
Fuente Academica
Full-text access to more than 200 scholarly Spanish-language journals.
European Views of the Americas: 1493 to 1750
Bibliographic database of more than 32,000 entries.
Caribbean Literature
Although devoted to 19th- and 20th-century fiction, the materials may provide insight into historical events.
