HIST F342 Latin America: Evolution and Revolution 

When conducting historical research:

FIRST. Use specialized encyclopedias, handbooks, guides, and textbooks to identify who, what, when, where, how and why.

SECOND. Use the references cited at the end of chapters or articles in textbooks, specialized encyclopedias, handbooks, and guides, and specialized bibliographies to identify the core scholarly research on your topic or research problem.

THIRD. Use databases and indexes to update core scholarly research with current scholarly material.

FOURTH. Identify and obtain as much primary source material as possible. A primary source documents first-hand accounts or first recordings of events. The historian using a number of such primary sources produces a secondary source.  Examples of primary source materials include letters, diaries, memoirs, speeches, contemporaneous newspaper accounts, government documents, statistics, photographs, etc. Consult the History librarian for help in locating primary source materials.

Encyclopedia articles often lead researchers to the most important books and articles on the selected topic. If you know what you are interested in then select one of the specific resources below.

Gale Virtual Reference Library

• Start here for a general search on your topic
• Search more than 200 major reference works including encyclopedias, almanacs, directories, and handbooks

Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture, 5 vols (Reference F1406 .E53 1996)

Latin America and the Caribbean: A critical guide to research sources (Reference F1408 .L3225 1992) provides an introduction to the nature of research and recent research trends in each discipline, followed by a guide to the principal sources for research.

Latin American History: A Teaching Atlas (Reference G1541.S1 L6 1983)

Latin American Studies: An Annotated Bibliography of Core Works (Reference F1408 .C536 2002) provides an annotated, recommended core list of books arranged by broad subject areas.

Research Guide to Central America and the Caribbean (Reference F2161 .R47 1985) is unique in its topical essays which indicate future directions, topics yet to be studied, and gaps in existing research. It suggests a wide array of potential subjects to those searching for ideas, and highlights the questions scholars working in the area are presently asking.

Economic Development

Agrarian Reform in Latin America: An Annotated Bibliography (Reference Z7164.L3 W56 1974B)

Latin America: A Guide to Economic History 1830-1930 (Reference HC125.L3 L32)

Indigenous Groups

Handbook of Middle American Indians, 10 vols, 5 supplements (Reference F1434 .H3)

Handbook of South American Indians, 7 vols (Reference E51 .U6 No. 143 1963)

Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures covers Pre-Hispanic, colonial, and modern Mesoamerica, defined as the lands stretching from Mexico to the southern tip of Central America.

Individual Countries

Encyclopedia of Cuba: People, History, Culture, 2 vols. (Reference F1754 .E53 2003)

Encyclopedia of Mexico: History, Society & Culture 2 vols. (Reference F1204 .E539 1997) includes entries written by scholars and a select list of sources at the end of each entry.

Mexico: An Encyclopedia of Contemporary Culture and History provides an overview of 20th- and 21st-century Mexico that explores the political, economic, social, and cultural history of the world's largest Spanish-speaking country from Agrarian Reform/Land and Land Policy to Zimmermann Telegram.

Historical Dictionary of Cuba (Reference F1754 .S83 2001)

Revolutionary Cuba (Reference F1758 .P47 1968)

Liberalism

New Dictionary of the History of Ideas history of Western thought and culture. Each entry explores the origin, cultural interpretations, and historical themes of such subjects as beauty, love, feminism, diversity, and social capital, among many others.

Political philosophy: Theories, Thinkers, Concepts (Reference JA71 .P6226 2001)

Political Theories for Students includes a general overview of the system/theory followed by a discussion of the principal aspects of the theory, the theory's philosophy and an analysis of the historical context in which the theory was developed, including critical response.

Politics of Latin America

Dictionary of Contemporary Politics of Central America and the Caribbean (Reference F2183 .G86 1991) includes brief explanations with generous "see also" references.

 Encyclopedia of Political Revolutions (Reference JC491 .E63 1998) provides scholarly articles on revolutions and major revolutionary figures with a brief listing of additional resources.

Latin America: A Political Dictionary (Reference F1406 .R67 1992) provides an explanation of the significance of each entry.

Revolutions and Revolutionists: A Comprehensive Guide to the Literature (Reference HM283.R54 B55 1982) highlights issues and key questions and singles out some of the most prominent books and articles in the field.

Slavery

Black Slavery in the Americas: An Interdisciplinary Bibliography 1865-1980, 2 vols (Reference HT861.S6 S63 1982)

Slavery: A Worldwide Bibliography 1900-1982 (Reference HT861.S6 M543 1985)

U.S. - Latin American Relations

Atlas to Hispanic-American History (Reference E184.S75 O287 2001) includes essays as well as a visual representation.

Early U.S.-Hispanic Relations 1776-1860: An Annotated Bibliography (Reference Z6465.L29 T37 1994)

Handbook of Research on the International Relations of Latin America and the Caribbean (Reference JZ1519 .A98 2001) provides an essay on the evolution of each field, the nature of research, and recent research trends followed by a guide to the principal sources for research.

Legacy of the Monroe Doctrine: A Reference Guide to U.S. Involvement in Latin America and the Caribbean (Reference F1418 .D458 1999)

United States and Mexico at War: Nineteenth-Century Expansionism and Conflict (Reference E404 .U66 1997) includes scholarly articles with lists of further reading.

Women

Women and Politics Worldwide (Reference HQ1236 .W6363 1994)

Women in Spanish America: An Annotated Bibliography From Pre-conquest to Contemporary Times (Reference Z7964 .L3 K525)

Women in the Third World : an encyclopedia of contemporary issues (HQ1870.9 .W6548 1998)

more E-reference collections...

Take a look in IUCAT Catalog (Indiana University's online library catalog) for books, journals and government information. Experienced researchers use Boolean operators and other search techniques for the most precise search results, which is a big timesaver!

 Search Tips

Remember you can use Request Delivery to order books from any IU library. Also look in other library catalogs (using WorldCat). You can make use of DDS (Document Delivery Services) to get copies of relevant texts if IU libraries does not have them!

 Academic Search Premier

• Search scholarly Latin American journals: Hispanic American Historical Review, Journal of Latin American Studies, Latin American Research Review, The Americas, Latin American Perspectives and Mexican Studies
• Millions of articles in more than 8,000 journals, with nearly 4,000 titles available full text
• Limit your search to scholarly peer reviewed articles then use subject suggestions to narrow your search
  View a search demonstration here

America: History and Life

• Excellent for researching U.S.-Latin America relations
• Provides citations and abstracts from over 1,800 journals covering the history and culture of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present
• Covers 1954 to present

Handbook of Latin American Studies

• Excellent for locating Spanish language journals articles and books
• Annotated bibliography on Latin America covering the social sciences and the humanities
• Covers works published from 1936 to present

JSTOR

• Find full text scholarly articles in journals
• Typically, coverage of a journal starts with its first issue and ends 2-7 years ago
• Remember to narrow by date, discipline and type of document to get precise results

Worldwide Political Science Abstracts

• Contains journals, peer-reviewed journals, books, and chapters/essays
• Covers 1975 to present

Search Tips

Can't find the full text? Try the FIND IT button.
You can learn more about FIND IT in a total of 5 minutes with the FIND IT tutorial

All the electronic resources you see here can be accessed in the A to Z section on the library homepage.

Identify and obtain as much primary source material as possible. A primary source documents first-hand accounts or first recordings of events. The historian using a number of such primary sources produces a secondary source. Examples of primary source materials include letters, diaries, memoirs, speeches, contemporaneous newspaper accounts, government documents, statistics, photographs, etc. Consult the History librarian for help in locating specific primary source materials. A complete list of recommended primary sources can be found here

Sabin Americana, 1500-1926

• Contains the complete full text of works about the Americas published throughout the world from 1500 to the early 1900's.
• Provide original accounts of exploration, trade, colonialism, slavery and abolition, the western movement, Native Americans, military actions and much more.

Contemporaneous News Accounts

Historical New York Times

Diaries, Letters, Memoirs, Papers

Marcos, subcomandante. Our Word is Our Weapon: Selected Writings. (Stacks F1266 .M285 2000)

Castro, Fidel. Revolutionary Struggle, 1947-1958 (Stacks F1788 .C2713 1972)

In the First Person

• Indexes first person narratives from the 1550s to the present
• Includes letter entries, diary entries, and oral histories
• Select Places and then the country of interest

Government Documents

Foreign Relations of the United States, 1863-1958

Foreign Relations of the United States, 1945 to present (Department of State)

Records from Associations, Organizations, Corporations

Organization of American States Annual Report of the Secretary General

Statistics and Surveys

Latin American Election Statistics This electronic publication, when complete, will provide a chronology of elections since independence at the municipal, state, and federal levels in selected Spanish-speaking Latin American countries and list sources of statistics for each election as identified.

Oxford Latin American Economic History Database contains statistical series for more than forty economic and social indicators for 1900-2000, covering twenty countries in the region.

General

Internet Modern History Sourcebook presents a diversity of source material in modern European, American, and Latin American history.

World-Wide Web Virtual Library History Central Catalogue (WWW-VL) sponsored by the European University Institute this site is the largest index to history Internet sources. The site is divided by types of materials, history by topics, history by countries and regions and history by eras and epochs.

Selected Internet Sites

19th Century Latin America is sponsored by the Internet Modern History Sourcebook (see above for complete description).

20th Century Latin America is sponsored by the Internet Modern History Sourcebook (see above for complete description).

Brazilian Government Document Digitization Project goal is to digitize executive branch serial documents issued by Brazil's national government during the period between 1821 and 1993, and by its provincial governments from the earliest available for each province to the end of the Empire to 1889. Collections consist of Provincial Presidential Reports (1830-1930)., Presidential Messages (1889-1993), Almanak Laemmert (1844-1889),  and Ministerial Reports (1821-1960).

Country Studies (Library of Congress) presents a description and analysis of the historical setting and the social, economic, political, and national security systems and institutions of countries throughout the world and examines the interrelationships of those systems and the ways they are shaped by cultural factors.

Latin American Network Information Center (LANIC) LANIC's primary objective is to facilitate access to Internet-based information on, from, or about Latin America. Its target audience includes people living in Latin America, as well as those around the world who have an interest in this region.

Oxford Latin American Economic History Database contains statistical series for more than forty economic and social indicators for 1900-2000, covering twenty countries in the region.

Political Database of the Americas provides reference materials, primary documents, comparative studies and statistical data for countries in the Western Hemisphere.

Use the built in functions for creating, saving, and printing list of sources in databases. Then, check your list of references with the style guide below.

The Chicago manual of style. The latest edition is located at the Service Desk Z253 .U69. Older editions are available in the Stacks Z253 .U69 on the third floor.

A sample of Chicago style footnotes and reference list entries are available on the Web.