Spanish Language, Literature and Culture

In the humanities, a primary source could be defined as something that was created either during the time period being studied or afterward by individuals reflecting on their involvement in the events of that time.

 Formats of Primary Sources

• Personal records or documents: diaries, journals, letters, manuscripts, speeches, emails, blog posts, and papers
• Autobiographies and memoirs
• Government documents and records, proceedings & meeting minutes, internal memos
• Published materials: books, magazine and journal articles, reports, blog posts, wiki entries, newspaper articles written at the time
• Visual Materials/Creative Works: photographs, paintings, sculptures, films, video recordings, plays, scripts
• Artifacts: physical objects from that time, such as clothes, furniture, toys, and buildings

 Finding Primary Sources in the Library Catalogue

Try a keyword search in the library catalogue combining your subject with words that identify a particular genre:

• correspondence, letters, papers
• diaries, journals, manuscripts
• personal narratives, oral histories
• interviews, transcripts
• sources
• travel writing, travelogue

• Sabin Americana, 1500-1926
  Based on Joseph Sabin's landmark bibliography, this collection contains works about the Americas published throughout the world from 1500 to the early 1900's. Included are books, pamphlets, serials and other documents that provide original accounts of exploration, trade, colonialism, slavery and abolition, the western movement, First Nations, military actions and much more. 

• European Views of the Americas: 1493 to 1750
  A comprehensive guide to printed records about the Americas written in Europe before 1750. Covers the history of European exploration as well as portrayals of native American peoples. A wide range of subject areas are covered; from natural disasters to disease outbreaks and slavery.

• Confidential Print: Latin America, 1833-1969
  The Confidential Print series, issued by the British Government between c. 1820 and 1970, is a fundamental building block for political, social and economic research. Preserves important papers generated by the Foreign and Colonial Offices, ranging from single-page letters or telegrams to comprehensive dispatches, investigative reports and texts of treaties. 
  This collection consists of the Confidential Print for Central and South America and the French- and Spanish-speaking Caribbean. Topics covered include slavery and the slave trade, immigration, relations with indigenous peoples, wars and territorial disputes, the fall of the Brazilian monarchy, British business and financial interests, industrial development, the building of the Panama Canal.

• Confidential Print: North America, 1824-1961
  This collection consists of the Confidential Print for the United States, Canada and the English-speaking Caribbean, with some coverage of Central and South America, and covers such topics as slavery, Prohibition, the First and Second World Wars, racial segregation, territorial disputes, the League of Nations, McCarthyism and the nuclear bomb. The bulk of the material covers the late nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century.

• History Archive for the Spanish Revolution (1934-1939) : Documents on the Spanish revolution. From the Marxist Internet Archive
• Archivo Fotográfico de la Delegación de Propaganda y Prensa de Madrid durante la Guerra Civil : Photographic images from the Spanish Civil War, originally created by the Junta de Defensa de Madrid to document atrocities, later used by the Franco government to identify and repress "republicanos".
• Trabajadores: The Spanish Civil War through the Eyes of Organised Labour - digital collection of archives about the Spanish Civil War, together with useful background information on the conflict.

For more, see the Spain: 1936 to the Present section of the EuroDocs: Online Sources for European History portal.