Subject and Course Guides: Mexican American Studies: Primary Sources

Primary Sources

Primary sources can consist of a variety of materials. Some examples of primary sources include correspondence, photographs, magazines, and many more. Researchers use primary sources to learn more about an individual, object, or event, and these materials often serve as "evidence" to help support their work.

Primary source material can include any of the following:

Newspapers
Photographs
Correspondence (personal, professional, and organizational)
Magazines
Books
Audio recordings
Video media (various formats)
Organization/Institution records
Statistical data
Government documents & records

Primary Source Databases

American West This link opens in a new window
Contains primary sources on the history of the American West, from 1722 to 1939, from the Newberry Library's Graff Collection of Western Americana. Includes manuscripts, broadsides, ephemeral materials, maps, and rare printed works.
American West provides extensive coverage on the history of the American West, including Texas history, from 1722 to 1939, with the heaviest concentration from 1830 to 1939. The database contains materials from the Newberry Library's Graff Collection of Western Americana on topics related to Native Americans, pioneers and homesteaders, mining, the Mormon Exodus, agriculture, transportation, outlaws, the environment, and border issues. Materials, most unique to this collection, include original manuscripts, ephemeral material (e.g., trade cards, wanted posters, photos, claim certificates, news-sheets, etc.), maps, and rare printed works. All textual materials are full-text searchable and can be viewed as transcripts or facsimiles (i.e., original format). Most maps are in color and have zooming functionality.

NOTE: Users can register for a personal account to store searches, create image slideshows, and build a library of documents.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram (1902-present) This link opens in a new window
This newspaper archive is a unique image collection that is accessible by keyword and date searching
A unique digital image collection that is accessible by keyword and date searching. It documents major events in Texas, the United States, and the world. Classified and display advertising, photos and graphics are included.
HathiTrust Digital Library This link opens in a new window
A massive digital library bringing together materials digitized by Google, the Internet Archive, HathiTrust partner institutions, and other commercial digitization projects. NOTE: You must log-in with your NetID and password to have access to the entire site.
Newspaper Source Plus This link opens in a new window
Newspaper Source Plus includes more than 860 full-text newspapers, providing more than 35 million full-text articles. In addition, the database features more than 857,000 television and radio news transcripts.
Sabin Americana, 1500-1926 This link opens in a new window
This digital collection contains primary works about the Americas published throughout the world from 1500 to the early 1900's.
Sabin Americana, 1500-1926 offers full-text access to more than 29,000 titles about the Americas including accounts of exploration, trade, colonialism, Native Americans, etc. Primary sources include books, pamphlets, serials, broadsides, and other historical documentation that describe the society, politics, religious beliefs, customs, and momentous events that characterized life in the Americas.

Texas Archival Resources Online (TARO)
TARO makes descriptions of the rich archival, manuscript, and museum collections in repositories across the state available to the public. The site consists of the collection descriptions or "finding aids" that archives, libraries, and museums create to assist users in locating information in their collections. Consider these an extended table of contents which describe unique materials only available at the individual repositories.

Hispanic American Newspapers, 1808-1980 This link opens in a new window
Compilation of nearly 400 Spanish-language newspapers printed in the U.S. during the 19th and 20th centuries. This collection offers a diversity of unabridged voices, ranging from intellectuals and literary notables to politicians, union organizers and grassroots figures.
World Scholar - Latin America and the Caribbean Archive This link opens in a new window
Archive access only. Contains primary source documents about Latin America and the Caribbean, including journals, new feeds, maps, statistics, audio, video, and more.
World Scholar: Latin America & the Caribbean serves the needs of students and researchers by bringing together in a single place a rich collection of primary source documents about Latin America and the Caribbean; academic journals and news feeds covering the region; reference articles and commentary; maps and statistics; audio and video; and more.
Latino Civil Rights during the Carter Administration This link opens in a new window
This digital archive collection gives rich insight into the efforts of the Executive Branch of U.S. government to reach out to the burgeoning Latino population during the last 2 years of the Carter Administration. In the summer of 1979, the Carter Administration created the White House Office of Hispanic Affairs in order to address issues of critical importance to the Latino community. The coming decade of the 1980s was being hailed as “the Decade of the Hispanic,” and many were looking to the president and Congress to show more respect for Latinos and their manifold contributions to the United States.
Major topics covered in this collection include inflation, bilingual education, police brutality, political unrest in Latin America, Haitian refugees, and immigration (legal and otherwise), Puerto Rican self-determination, and the U.S. Navy’s use of Vieques Island. Latino Civil Rights during the Carter Administration also documents some of the most important Latino organizations of the time, including LULAC, TELACU, La Raza, the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, and the American G.I. Forum.