Research Guides: The Legacy of Mesoamerica: ANTH / LAS 2098 / HIST 3096: Find Primary Sources

Introduction: What are Primary Sources?

What are Primary Sources?

"Primary sources provide firsthand testimony or direct evidence concerning a topic or question under investigation."

- Source: Yale University. http://primarysources.yale.edu/

The definition of a primary sources varies by discipline, and includes historical letters and diaries, government documents, works of art and literature, data from a scientific experiment, findings from an archeological dig, and oral history recordings to name just a few examples. It is content which has not been analyzed or interpreted by scholars or researchers.

See this chart from Yale University for more examples of primary sources by academic discipline.

Florentine Codex

Digital Florentine Codex
An Encyclopedia of 16th-Century Indigenous Mexico. The Digital Florentine Codex gives access to a singular manuscript created by Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún and a group of Nahua elders, authors, and artists. Written in parallel columns of Nahuatl and Spanish texts and hand painted with nearly 2,500 images, the encyclopedic codex is widely regarded as the most reliable source of information about Mexica culture, the Aztec Empire, and the conquest of Mexico.

Primary Source Collections

The databases listed below contain both primary and secondary source materials.

Indigenous Histories and Cultures in North America
Indigenous Histories and Cultures includes manuscripts, artwork, rare printed books, photographs, newspapers, original documents, maps, and travel journals from the earliest contact with European settlers up to the mid-twentieth century.
ARTstor
Note: ArtStor is now part of JSTOR. ArtStor users can still use their existing account on the JSTOR platform.
ARTstor contains images of art, architecture and archeology from a range of cultures and time periods, in European, American and Asian cultures.
eHRAF World Cultures
eHRAF World Cultures is a collection of books and articles on cultures from all regions of the world. It also provides information on ethnic groups, or immigrant groups, their beliefs and superstitions, or subjects such as political structure, architecture, kinship units, or settlement patterns.
JSTOR
Can limit to "Primary Source Content" after you enter your search terms. Note that not everything that appears will be a primary source depending on the context of your research.
Latin American Women Writers
Latin American Women Writers contains literature by Latin American women from the colonial period in the 17th century forward to the present. The database presents the works in their original languages and includes literary works, memoirs, letters, and essays.
Archives of Latin American and Caribbean History, Sixteenth to Twentieth Century
A rich collection of primary, secondary, and tertiary (or reference) source documents about Latin America and the Caribbean. The archival portion of the database covers the period from 1492 through to the twentieth century, with over 1.2 million page-images available. Primary-source media types include original manuscripts, signed letters, expedition records, reports, maps, diaries, descriptions of voyages, and ephemera.

Find Printed Primary Sources at Temple

Use the Library Search and enter keywords on your research topic.
Use the Genre filter at the left and limit to the terms Sources, Personal Narratives, Correspondence, or Diaries to limit to primary sources.
A sample subject heading for primary sources on the Mexican Revolution is: Mexico -- History -- Revolution, 1910-1920 -- Sources
Try the subject links in the records for any useful items you find. These will take you to additional primary sources on the same topic.

Newspaper Databases

ProQuest Historical Newspapers
Access to newly added titles is guaranteed through May 2027
ProQuest Historical Newspapers contains many US and international newspapers from the 19th and 20th centuries, including the New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, and Washington Post.
Access World News
Access World News includes a variety of news publications worldwide. These sources include major national and international newspapers, as well as local and regional titles as well as newswires, blogs, web-only content, videos, journals, magazines, transcripts and more.
Latin American Historical Newspapers, Series 1
Latin American Historical Newspapers, Series 1 is a collection of historical Latin American newspapers, 1805-1922, covering people, issues and events that shaped this region during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Primary Source Literature: Popol Vuh

Sometimes called the "Maya Bible," the Popol Vuh -- available in print and online from Mesoweb -- consists of a series of texts that provide a window into the autochthonous literary traditions of ancient Mesoamerica.

Click here to watch a Chilean animated film adaptation of the Popol Vuh created for young people (streaming video from TULibraries' database, Ethnographic Video Online).