LibGuides: Latin American Studies Library Resource Guide: Primary Sources

Primary and Secondary Sources

Primary Sources

Primary sources are first-hand or contemporary accounts of an event or topic. They enable the researcher to get as close as possible to what actually happened during a historical event or time period.

Examples include oral histories, memoirs, letters, diaries, meeting minutes, photographs, artifacts, interviews, and sound or video recordings of an event.
Raw statistical data is also considered a primary source.
If a primary source is digitized and made available online, the online version is still considered a primary source.

Secondary Sources

Secondary sources add interpretation, analysis, or commentary to an event or phenomenon covered by primary sources.

Examples include criticisms, histories, and retrospective articles. They can be useful for understanding how a topic or event is or has been regarded by the media and society, if that information is within the scope of your project.

Digital Collections

Latino(a) Cultural Heritage Archives - Cal State Northridge
A database featuring photographs and documents assembled from twelve collections of the California State University Northridge Urban Archives of the University Library Special Collections and Archives. These materials capture the history of Latino and Chicana/o people and culture in Southern California. These collections feature the arts, labor, and immigration as important parts of the historical fabric of this community.
The Documented Border - University of Arizona Libraries
This archive focuses on untold and silenced stories and events about this transnational region, with the goal to advance understanding and awareness about the U.S.-Mexico borderlands and its peoples during a period of unprecedented societal change. Includes oral histories of journalists from both sides of the border, human rights activists in Mexico, and U.S. immigration policy documentation.
Farmworker Movement Documentation Project : Cesar Chavez, The Farmworker Movement: 1962-1993 - UC San Diego
Primary source accounts: photographs, oral histories, videos, essays and historical documents from the United Farm Worker Delano Grape Strikers and the UFW Volunteers who worked with Cesar Chavez to build his farmworker movement.
California Cultures: Hispanic Americans - Calisphere
The items in these exhibitions trace the history of Hispanic Americans in California from the Mission system and Californios into the 20th century: Mexican immigration into California, the farmworkers' labor struggles, and the Chicano Civil Rights movement and La Raza, which also resulted in an explosion of cultural art.

Statistics

Racial Identification for the Self-Reported Hispanic or Latino Population: 2010 and 2020 Census
U.S. Census Bureau data showing how people who identify as being of Hispanic or Latino origin (referred to as the Hispanic population) self-reported their race in the 2020 vs 2010 Census.

Government Documents

U.S. Dept of Health & Human Services, Division of Policy and Data, Office of Minority Health - Profile: Hispanic/Latino Americans
The Division of Policy and Data (DPD) is responsible for developing health policies and initiatives that are designed to address the elimination of health disparities and advance health equity. The Office of Minority Health provides the most current quantitative information related to minority health.