Latin American Studies Research Guide

 Encyclopedias & Dictionaries | Statistical Sources | Finding Books |  Finding Articles | Finding Primary Sources  | Selected Primary Sources | Help

The purpose of this guide is to introduce some of the resources available in Pickler Memorial Library that relate to some aspect of the field of Latin American Studies. This guide is not a comprehensive listing of sources but a starting point for finding information on Latin American Studies topics. 

Encyclopedias & Dictionaries: provide brief definitions or overviews of the topic often followed by lists of further References.

Biographical Dictionary of Latin American and Caribbean Political Leaders
Reference F1414.2 B48 1988 

Cambridge Encyclopedia of Latin America and the Caribbean
Reference F1406 C36 1992

Dictionary of Contemporary Politics of Central America and the Caribbean
Reference F2183 G86 1991

Dictionary of Twentieth Century Culture: Hispanic Culture of South America  
Reference F2237 H57 1995

Encyclopedia of Contemporary Latin American & Caribbean Cultures
Reference F1406 E515 2000 (3 vols)

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

Encyclopedia of Mexico: History, Society & Culture 
Reference1210 E63 1997 (2 vols)

Latin America: A Political Dictionary  
Reference F1406 R67 1992

The United States in Latin America  
Reference F1418 S494 1992

Statistical Sources: provide facts and data.

Statistical Abstract of Latin America
Reference HA935 S8

Statistical Yearbook for Latin America and the Caribbean 
Reference HA751 A58

Finding Books:
To find books, music, videos or other materials located in Pickler Memorial Library, search the Library Catalog. You can search the catalog by author, title, subject, and keywords.

Subject searching in the Library Catalog uses the Library Congress subject headings. Below are a few examples of subject headings for Latin American Studies.  Each link performs the subject search in the Library Catalog.

Latin America -- Politics and Government

Latin America -- Relations -- United States.

Latin America -- Social Conditions.

You may also find materials in the Library Catalog through Keyword searching. Use keyword searching when you don't know the appropriate subject headings or want to combine different concepts. For example:

chile and revolution

latin america and slavery

For background information, try the Area Handbook Series.

Do a keyword search for area handbook and the name of the country
(e.g.: area handbook and nicaragua)

OR

Do a title search for area handbook series to get a complete listing.

Click here for information on Keyword searching principles.

Other library Catalogs:

MOBIUS (Missouri academic library consortium)

WorldCat (Libraries around the country)

Finding Articles:
A List of databases useful for finding articles on Latin American Studies topics.

Unless otherwise noted, online databases in this section are restricted to use on the Truman network.

Handbook of Latin American Studies 1936+
Searchable annotated bibliography of articles, books, and book chapters on Latin America edited by the Hispanic Division of the Library of Congress. Includes both English and Spanish language materials.

 Hispanic American Periodicals Index (HAPI Online) 1970+
Indexes over 400 journals that cover Central and South America, Mexico, the Caribbean basin, the United States-Mexico border region, and Hispanics in the United States.

Historical Abstracts 1955+
Indexes journal articles and other sources concerning historical topics from 1450 to the present for all countries of the world except the U.S. and Canada.

Humanities Abstracts 1984+
In print under various titles 1907-1996.    Reference AI 3 S6
Contains citations from more than 465 periodicals in archaeology and classical studies, area studies, communication, folklore, history, language, literature, performing and visual arts, philosophy, religion and theology.

JSTOR Years vary by journal title, but do not cover the most recent issues.
A collection of approximately 300 full text scholarly journals from most subject disciplines. Some of the Latin American Studies journals include: Hispania, Journal of Latin American Studies, Latin American Perspectives, and Latin American Research Review.

LAPTOC - Latin American Periodicals Table of Contents.
A searchable Web database that provides access to the tables of contents of more than 950 journals, primarily in the humanities and social sciences, published in Latin America. *Note the Interlibrary loan link in this database is not connected to Pickler Library's system, you must request articles using our form: ILL Article Requests

Social Sciences Abstracts 1983+
In print under various titles 1907-1996: Reference AI 3 S6
Covers about 550 journals in the areas of anthropology, area studies, community health and medical care, criminal justice, economics, geography, international relations, law, political science, psychology, social work and public welfare, sociology, and related topics.

eHRAF-- An electronic version of the microfiche collection, Human  Relations Area File ( HRAF)
Currently eHRAF contains information on 137 cultures.  This unique cross-cultural database contains more than 350,000 pages of descriptive information on cultures and ethnic groups.   Source documents include books, articles and dissertations that have been indexed and organized according to HRAF's culture and subject classification systems  The eHRAF User Guides  can be found at www.yale.edu/hraf/userguides.html  

The easiest way to use eHRAF is to browse by culture. Click Browse along the top then click on Browse Cultures by Regions (located on the left). Relevant regions include Middle America & the Caribbean and South America. Each Region is divided by country and then by cultures (i.e. Mexico--Huichol, Tzeltal, Zapotec).
 

Finding Primary source material:
Primary sources are generally considered to be firsthand accounts of an event or the actual documents associated with an event. 

• Firsthand accounts can be found in diaries, memoirs, letters, speeches, autobiographies, scholarly articles giving the results of research, etc.

• Documents might be laws, treaties, transcripts of hearings, court cases, etc.

 To find these in the Library Catalog:

Speeches, letters, journals, diaries, etc. of an individual may be found by looking for the name of that person as an author. 

            Castro, Fidel

Books which are collections of personal stories or reminiscences of an event are listed under the event with the subdivision PERSONAL NARRATIVES.  Because it is difficult to get the subject heading exactly right, it is easiest to use keyword. 

         Cuba and personal narratives
         mexican war and personal narratives

Books which are collections of various documents from a particular country are entered under the country name with the subdivision HISTORY perhaps a time designation is next, then the subdivision SOURCES. 

          Latin America -- History -- To 1600 -- Sources.

Because these are complicated, you can add sources to a keyword search.

        brazil and s:sources

Use the S: to have your search term found in the subject field.

Below is a list of some of the  microform primary source collections available in Pickler Memorial Library

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You can ask for further assistance at the Reference Desk or contact the Reference librarian for History.

Reference Desk 
(660) 785-4051

Janet Romine, Reference Librarian for History
(660) 785-7418
jiromine@truman.edu

 

jir
 

Last Modified 16 June 2008