Finding Primary Sources by Time Period
- Slavery, Abolition and Social Justice This link opens in a new windowDesigned for teaching and research, Slavery, Abolition and Social Justice brings together documents and collections from libraries and archives across the Atlantic world, covering an extensive time period from 1490. Topics covered include the varieties of slavery, the legacy of slavery, the social justice perspective and the continued existence of slavery today. This resource offers in-depth case studies in America, the Caribbean, Brazil and Cuba, along with important material examining European, Islamic and African involvement in the slave trade.
- Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive This link opens in a new windowSlavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive is a thematically organized, four-part historical archive devoted to the scholarly study and understanding of slavery from a multinational perspective.
- Archives of Latin America and Caribbean History 16th-20th Century This link opens in a new windowWorld Scholar: Latin American & the Caribbean is a multidisciplinary database designed to meet the needs of researchers, postgraduates, and undergraduates with interests in regional studies, history, political science, anthropology, sociology, economics, and international relations. It includes a comprehensive range of content for the region, providing research across the humanities both for current issues and events in Latin America and the Caribbean as well as for historical perspective back to the colonial period.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Provides access to many millions of journal articles, books, images, and primary sources in 75 disciplines.
Artstor images incorporated into JSTOR as of 8/1/2024.
- Library of Congress: Hispanic Reading RoomThe Hispanic Reading Room is the primary access point for research related to the Caribbean, Latin America, Spain and Portugal; the indigenous cultures of those areas; and peoples throughout the world historically influenced by Luso-Hispanic heritage, including Latinos in the U.S. and peoples of Portuguese or Spanish heritage in Africa, Asia, and Oceania.
- Library of Congress: Jay I. Kislak CollectionThe Jay I. Kislak Collection of the Archaeology and History of the Early Americas is composed of important archaeological artifacts, rare books, manuscripts, maps and graphic works of art, which survey the earliest history of the lands that would become known as the Americas. Jay I. Kislak donated the collection to the Library of Congress in 2014. The dates of the collection items range from around 2000 BCE until the twenty-first century. The collection is in English, with Spanish, Dutch, German, and indigenous languages of Nahuatl, Ixil, K’iche (Quiché), and Q’eqchi’ (Kekchi).
- Library of Congress Exhibit: Exploring the Early AmericasExploring the Early Americas features selections from the more than 3,000 rare maps, documents, paintings, prints, and artifacts that make up the Jay I. Kislak Collection at the Library of Congress. It provides insight into indigenous cultures, the drama of the encounters between Native Americans and European explorers and settlers, and the pivotal changes caused by the meeting of the American and European worlds.
- World Digital LibraryThe World Digital Library (WDL) makes available on the internet, free of charge and in multilingual format, significant primary materials from countries and cultures around the world.
- Brazilian and Portuguese History and Culture This link opens in a new windowBrazilian and Portuguese History and Culture is a collection of monographs and pamphlets which was assembled by Manoel de Oliveira Lima, a Brazilian diplomat, journalist, historian, and book collector whose career spanned Brazil’s transition from empire to republic. Brazilian history and literature was the central focus of his writing and collecting. The collection was donated to Catholic University of America in 1920. It contains about 40,000 items.
- Empire Online This link opens in a new windowEmpire Online charts the rise and fall of empires around the world over a span five centuries. Includes a mixture of printed, manuscript and visual primary source documents. Those studying – among other subjects – colonial history, society, trade and travel, politics and culture can explore a diverse range of topics and subjects from ship’s logs to missionaries in Africa. Empire Online provides varying points-of-view, with selections from American, French, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese and German, as well as British perspectives. Also includes texts from the peoples of Africa, India and North America.
- Gale Primary Sources This link opens in a new windowGale Primary Sources is an integrated platform that combines Gale’s digital archives into a single cross-searchable interface. This broadens and enhances the ability to discover primary source documents from multiple collections. This platform combines dozens of historical archives which include monographs, manuscripts, newspapers, maps, and photographs and covers more than 500 hundred of years of history.
- Global Commodities: Trade, Exploration and Cultural Exchange This link opens in a new windowGlobal Commodities: Trade, Exploration and Cultural Exchange explores the history of key commodities that changed the world. These commodities have been transported, exchanged and consumed around the world for hundreds of years. They transformed societies, global trading operations and habits of consumption, giving rise to new consumer desires and aspirations.
- Sabin Americana This link opens in a new windowBased on Joseph Sabin’s landmark bibliography, Bibliotheca Americana, 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, Native Americans, military actions and much more. With over 6 million pages from 29,000 works, this collection is a cornerstone in the study of the western hemisphere.
- Slavery, Abolition and Social Justice This link opens in a new windowDesigned for teaching and research, Slavery, Abolition and Social Justice brings together documents and collections from libraries and archives across the Atlantic world, covering an extensive time period from 1490. Topics covered include the varieties of slavery, the legacy of slavery, the social justice perspective and the continued existence of slavery today. This resource offers in-depth case studies in America, the Caribbean, Brazil and Cuba, along with important material examining European, Islamic and African involvement in the slave trade.
- Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive This link opens in a new windowSlavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive is a thematically organized, four-part historical archive devoted to the scholarly study and understanding of slavery from a multinational perspective.
- Archives of Latin America and Caribbean History 16th-20th Century This link opens in a new windowWorld Scholar: Latin American & the Caribbean is a multidisciplinary database designed to meet the needs of researchers, postgraduates, and undergraduates with interests in regional studies, history, political science, anthropology, sociology, economics, and international relations. It includes a comprehensive range of content for the region, providing research across the humanities both for current issues and events in Latin America and the Caribbean as well as for historical perspective back to the colonial period.
- Colonial CaribbeanDigital resource covering three centuries of Caribbean history from 1624 to 1870 drawn from the archives of the British Colonial Office. Records include: administrative documentation, trade and shipping records, minutes of council meetings, and details of plantation life, colonial settlement, imperial rivalries across the region, and the growing concern of absentee landlords. The colonies include: Anguilla, Antigua, Bahamas, Barbados, Berbice, Bermuda, British Guiana, British Honduras, British Virgin Islands, Curaçao, Demarara, Dominica, Essequibo, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Jamaica, Leeward Islands, Martinique, Montserrat, Nevis, St. Bartholomew, St. Christopher (St. Kitts), St. Croix, Santo Domingo, St. Eustatius, St. Lucia, St. Thomas, St. Vincent, Suriname, Tobago, Tortola, Trinidad, and Turks and Caicos.
- Early Caribbean Digital ArchiveTexts include travel narratives, novels, poetry, natural histories, and diaries that have not been brought together before as a single collection focused on the Caribbean.
- Library of Congress: Hispanic Reading RoomThe Hispanic Reading Room is the primary access point for research related to the Caribbean, Latin America, Spain and Portugal; the indigenous cultures of those areas; and peoples throughout the world historically influenced by Luso-Hispanic heritage, including Latinos in the U.S. and peoples of Portuguese or Spanish heritage in Africa, Asia, and Oceania.
- Library of Congress: Jay I. Kislak CollectionThe Jay I. Kislak Collection of the Archaeology and History of the Early Americas is composed of important archaeological artifacts, rare books, manuscripts, maps and graphic works of art, which survey the earliest history of the lands that would become known as the Americas. Jay I. Kislak donated the collection to the Library of Congress in 2014. The dates of the collection items range from around 2000 BCE until the twenty-first century. The collection is in English, with Spanish, Dutch, German, and indigenous languages of Nahuatl, Ixil, K’iche (Quiché), and Q’eqchi’ (Kekchi).
- Library of Congress Exhibit: Exploring the Early AmericasExploring the Early Americas features selections from the more than 3,000 rare maps, documents, paintings, prints, and artifacts that make up the Jay I. Kislak Collection at the Library of Congress. It provides insight into indigenous cultures, the drama of the encounters between Native Americans and European explorers and settlers, and the pivotal changes caused by the meeting of the American and European worlds.
- World Digital LibraryThe World Digital Library (WDL) makes available on the internet, free of charge and in multilingual format, significant primary materials from countries and cultures around the world.
- Brazilian and Portuguese History and Culture This link opens in a new windowBrazilian and Portuguese History and Culture is a collection of monographs and pamphlets which was assembled by Manoel de Oliveira Lima, a Brazilian diplomat, journalist, historian, and book collector whose career spanned Brazil’s transition from empire to republic. Brazilian history and literature was the central focus of his writing and collecting. The collection was donated to Catholic University of America in 1920. It contains about 40,000 items.
- Confidential Print: Latin America, 1833-1969 This link opens in a new windowConfidential Print: Latin America, 1833-1969 contains complete runs of all British Government Confidential Print volumes relating to South and Central America. Coverage begins in the aftermath of independence for the former Spanish and Portuguese colonies of Latin America, addressing the politics of state-building and the Latin American nations’ establishment of their place in the fast-expanding global economy.
- Gale Primary Sources This link opens in a new windowGale Primary Sources is an integrated platform that combines Gale’s digital archives into a single cross-searchable interface. This broadens and enhances the ability to discover primary source documents from multiple collections. This platform combines dozens of historical archives which include monographs, manuscripts, newspapers, maps, and photographs and covers more than 500 hundred of years of history.
- Global Commodities: Trade, Exploration and Cultural Exchange This link opens in a new windowGlobal Commodities: Trade, Exploration and Cultural Exchange explores the history of key commodities that changed the world. These commodities have been transported, exchanged and consumed around the world for hundreds of years. They transformed societies, global trading operations and habits of consumption, giving rise to new consumer desires and aspirations.
- Sabin Americana This link opens in a new windowBased on Joseph Sabin’s landmark bibliography, Bibliotheca Americana, 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, Native Americans, military actions and much more. With over 6 million pages from 29,000 works, this collection is a cornerstone in the study of the western hemisphere.
- Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive This link opens in a new windowSlavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive is a thematically organized, four-part historical archive devoted to the scholarly study and understanding of slavery from a multinational perspective:
- Archives of Latin America and Caribbean History 16th-20th Century This link opens in a new windowWorld Scholar: Latin American & the Caribbean is a multidisciplinary database designed to meet the needs of researchers, postgraduates, and undergraduates with interests in regional studies, history, political science, anthropology, sociology, economics, and international relations. It includes a comprehensive range of content for the region, providing research across the humanities both for current issues and events in Latin America and the Caribbean as well as for historical perspective back to the colonial period.
- Latin American Network Information CenterPlease note: There might be some broken links listed on this website.
- Latin American PamphletsScarce and unique Latin American pamphlets published during the 19th and the early 20th centuries that are located in Harvard's Widener Library.
- Library of Congress: Hispanic Reading RoomThe Hispanic Reading Room is the primary access point for research related to the Caribbean, Latin America, Spain and Portugal; the indigenous cultures of those areas; and peoples throughout the world historically influenced by Luso-Hispanic heritage, including Latinos in the U.S. and peoples of Portuguese or Spanish heritage in Africa, Asia, and Oceania.
- Library of Congress: Jay I. Kislak CollectionThe Jay I. Kislak Collection of the Archaeology and History of the Early Americas is composed of important archaeological artifacts, rare books, manuscripts, maps and graphic works of art, which survey the earliest history of the lands that would become known as the Americas. Jay I. Kislak donated the collection to the Library of Congress in 2014. The dates of the collection items range from around 2000 BCE until the twenty-first century. The collection is in English, with Spanish, Dutch, German, and indigenous languages of Nahuatl, Ixil, K’iche (Quiché), and Q’eqchi’ (Kekchi).
- World Digital LibraryThe World Digital Library (WDL) makes available on the internet, free of charge and in multilingual format, significant primary materials from countries and cultures around the world.
- Brazilian and Portuguese History and Culture This link opens in a new windowBrazilian and Portuguese History and Culture is a collection of monographs and pamphlets which was assembled by Manoel de Oliveira Lima, a Brazilian diplomat, journalist, historian, and book collector whose career spanned Brazil’s transition from empire to republic. Brazilian history and literature was the central focus of his writing and collecting. The collection was donated to Catholic University of America in 1920. It contains about 40,000 items.
- Confidential Print: Latin America, 1833-1969 This link opens in a new windowConfidential Print: Latin America, 1833-1969 contains complete runs of all British Government Confidential Print volumes relating to South and Central America. Coverage begins in the aftermath of independence for the former Spanish and Portuguese colonies of Latin America, addressing the politics of state-building and the Latin American nations’ establishment of their place in the fast-expanding global economy.
- Gale Primary Sources This link opens in a new windowGale Primary Sources is an integrated platform that combines Gale’s digital archives into a single cross-searchable interface. This broadens and enhances the ability to discover primary source documents from multiple collections. This platform combines dozens of historical archives which include monographs, manuscripts, newspapers, maps, and photographs and covers more than 500 hundred of years of history.
- Global Commodities: Trade, Exploration and Cultural Exchange This link opens in a new windowGlobal Commodities: Trade, Exploration and Cultural Exchange explores the history of key commodities that changed the world. These commodities have been transported, exchanged and consumed around the world for hundreds of years. They transformed societies, global trading operations and habits of consumption, giving rise to new consumer desires and aspirations.
- Sabin Americana This link opens in a new windowBased on Joseph Sabin’s landmark bibliography, Bibliotheca Americana, 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, Native Americans, military actions and much more. With over 6 million pages from 29,000 works, this collection is a cornerstone in the study of the western hemisphere.
- Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive This link opens in a new windowSlavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive is a thematically organized, four-part historical archive devoted to the scholarly study and understanding of slavery from a multinational perspective:
- Archives of Latin America and Caribbean History 16th-20th Century This link opens in a new windowWorld Scholar: Latin American & the Caribbean is a multidisciplinary database designed to meet the needs of researchers, postgraduates, and undergraduates with interests in regional studies, history, political science, anthropology, sociology, economics, and international relations. It includes a comprehensive range of content for the region, providing research across the humanities both for current issues and events in Latin America and the Caribbean as well as for historical perspective back to the colonial period.
- Latin American Network Information CenterPlease note: There might be some broken links listed on this website.
- Latin American PamphletsScarce and unique Latin American pamphlets published during the 19th and the early 20th centuries that are located in Harvard's Widener Library.
- Library of Congress: Hispanic Reading RoomThe Hispanic Reading Room is the primary access point for research related to the Caribbean, Latin America, Spain and Portugal; the indigenous cultures of those areas; and peoples throughout the world historically influenced by Luso-Hispanic heritage, including Latinos in the U.S. and peoples of Portuguese or Spanish heritage in Africa, Asia, and Oceania.
- Library of Congress: Jay I. Kislak CollectionThe Jay I. Kislak Collection of the Archaeology and History of the Early Americas is composed of important archaeological artifacts, rare books, manuscripts, maps and graphic works of art, which survey the earliest history of the lands that would become known as the Americas. Jay I. Kislak donated the collection to the Library of Congress in 2014. The dates of the collection items range from around 2000 BCE until the twenty-first century. The collection is in English, with Spanish, Dutch, German, and indigenous languages of Nahuatl, Ixil, K’iche (Quiché), and Q’eqchi’ (Kekchi).
- World Digital LibraryThe World Digital Library (WDL) makes available on the internet, free of charge and in multilingual format, significant primary materials from countries and cultures around the world.
- Brazilian and Portuguese History and Culture This link opens in a new windowBrazilian and Portuguese History and Culture is a collection of monographs and pamphlets which was assembled by Manoel de Oliveira Lima, a Brazilian diplomat, journalist, historian, and book collector whose career spanned Brazil’s transition from empire to republic. Brazilian history and literature was the central focus of his writing and collecting. The collection was donated to Catholic University of America in 1920. It contains about 40,000 items.
- Confidential Print: Latin America, 1833-1969 This link opens in a new windowConfidential Print: Latin America, 1833-1969 contains complete runs of all British Government Confidential Print volumes relating to South and Central America. Coverage begins in the aftermath of independence for the former Spanish and Portuguese colonies of Latin America, addressing the politics of state-building and the Latin American nations’ establishment of their place in the fast-expanding global economy.
- Gale Primary Sources This link opens in a new windowGale Primary Sources is an integrated platform that combines Gale’s digital archives into a single cross-searchable interface. This broadens and enhances the ability to discover primary source documents from multiple collections. This platform combines dozens of historical archives which include monographs, manuscripts, newspapers, maps, and photographs and covers more than 500 hundred of years of history.
- Music Online: Listening This link opens in a new windowMusic Online: Listening contains a high quality streaming audio collection to support the teaching and research of music. It currently provides streaming access to almost 1,000,000 albums and more than 11,000,000 tracks, and is growing monthly as new recordings are added.
- Sabin Americana This link opens in a new windowBased on Joseph Sabin’s landmark bibliography, Bibliotheca Americana, 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, Native Americans, military actions and much more. With over 6 million pages from 29,000 works, this collection is a cornerstone in the study of the western hemisphere.
- Archives of Latin America and Caribbean History 16th-20th Century This link opens in a new windowWorld Scholar: Latin American & the Caribbean is a multidisciplinary database designed to meet the needs of researchers, postgraduates, and undergraduates with interests in regional studies, history, political science, anthropology, sociology, economics, and international relations. It includes a comprehensive range of content for the region, providing research across the humanities both for current issues and events in Latin America and the Caribbean as well as for historical perspective back to the colonial period.
- Digital Archive of Latin American and Caribbean EphemeraThe Digital Archive of Latin American and Caribbean Ephemera is a steadily growing repository containing a previously unavailable subset of Princeton’s Latin American Ephemera Collection as well as newly acquired materials being digitized and added on an ongoing basis.
- Latin American Network Information CenterPlease note: There might be some broken links listed on this website.
- Latin American PamphletsScarce and unique Latin American pamphlets published during the 19th and the early 20th centuries that are located in Harvard's Widener Library.
- Library of Congress: Jay I. Kislak CollectionThe Jay I. Kislak Collection of the Archaeology and History of the Early Americas is composed of important archaeological artifacts, rare books, manuscripts, maps and graphic works of art, which survey the earliest history of the lands that would become known as the Americas. Jay I. Kislak donated the collection to the Library of Congress in 2014. The dates of the collection items range from around 2000 BCE until the twenty-first century. The collection is in English, with Spanish, Dutch, German, and indigenous languages of Nahuatl, Ixil, K’iche (Quiché), and Q’eqchi’ (Kekchi).
- World Digital LibraryThe World Digital Library (WDL) makes available on the internet, free of charge and in multilingual format, significant primary materials from countries and cultures around the world.
- Archives of Latin America and Caribbean History 16th-20th Century This link opens in a new windowWorld Scholar: Latin American & the Caribbean is a multidisciplinary database designed to meet the needs of researchers, postgraduates, and undergraduates with interests in regional studies, history, political science, anthropology, sociology, economics, and international relations. It includes a comprehensive range of content for the region, providing research across the humanities both for current issues and events in Latin America and the Caribbean as well as for historical perspective back to the colonial period.
- Music Online: Listening This link opens in a new windowMusic Online: Listening contains a high quality streaming audio collection to support the teaching and research of music. It currently provides streaming access to almost 1,000,000 albums and more than 11,000,000 tracks, and is growing monthly as new recordings are added.