Latin American History

Primary sources are a moving target because what constitutes a primary source very much depends on your research.

Search Albert (Library catalog) for "personal narratives" in book form. For example, nicaragua and "personal narratives" would search the subject headings and titles and return some suggested books or video that fit.  Try other subjects, but stay broad in your search-- cuba and revolution and letters, for instance, or chile and revolution.  If "personal narratives" doesn't work, try: sources, narratives, letters, diaries, diary, etc.

Other suggestions if you are having trouble identifying primary sources:

1. Pay attention to the articles and books that you find on your subject.  If they are using historical sources to write what they write, they will cite the primary sources in their citation list.  
2. Check the Web to see if there are other sources you can use-- for instance, for government documents, speeches, interviews, etc.
3. Newspapers reporting on a contemporary event are considered primary sources.  This may be complicated if the newspaper is in a language other than English.  
4. Ask for help from your professor or your librarian!

Examples of Primary Sources:

Here are various primary source collections of possible interest (below). If you are looking for something specific, try searching for it on the web.  For instance, if you would like the text of Che Guevara's speech at the United Nations, go to your favored search engine, and put your search in quotes like this: "che guevara" "united nations". The results will be actual video of him making the speech as well as links to the text of the speech. Always put the named object in quotes to keep the words as a phrase. Obviously, only do this if you know what the source is called! This is a great way to find government documents of all sorts, speeches, interviews, and even contemporary news stories if someone has scanned said stories and placed them on the web. Please do ask for help if you can't find what you are looking for!

Castro Speech Database - Searchable database for Castro's speeches from 1959-1966. From LANIC.

Chile Documentation Project - From the National Security Archive, declassified documents relating to the CIA, Pinochet, and the military coup.

Contras, Cocaine, and Covert Operations - From the National Security Archive, declassified documents relating to the Noriega, Rosa, and drug trafficking.

Dean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital Archive - Find interviews of world leaders, ambassadors, and political experts. The site includes more than two hundred episodes from three television series moderated by Dean Krogh between 1981 and 2005: American Interests, World Beat, and Great Decisions (the latter in collaboration with the Foreign Policy Association). Browse by geographic region to get a complete listing of topics for that region. From Georgetown University.

Documents Relating to American Foreign Policy: Cuban Missile Crisis - Texts of speeches, news reports and declassified documents. From Mt. Holyoke College.

National Security Archive - From George Washington University, browse in Projects for reclassified documents from various government agencies. You can also browse by country.

Ronald Reagan Presidential Library - offers access to speeches and other primary sources from within the archives.  Browse the document collections, photographic collection, and speeches. The topic guides within the document collections offers an a-z subject related guide, and Nicaragua is one of those folders.

Sandino Rebellion Digital Archive - Open access digital archive, still a work in progress.

Understanding the Iran-Contra Affairs - From Brown University. A great list of primary documents.

War in Colombia: Guerrillas, Drugs and Human Rights in U.S.-Colombia Policy, 1988-2002 - From the National Security Archive.