1. Resources for Research on Latin America:
BL and beyond
Christine Anderson (christine.anderson@london.ac.uk)
Aquiles Alencar-Brayner (aquiles.alencarbrayner@bl.uk)
ACLAIIR

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Acquire
relevant
research
material
Facilitate
public
access to
collections +
information
Engage in
outreach
programmes
Collection development:
 Human & Social Sciences
 Identify trends of research
(present and future)
Objectives:
 Provide support for researchers
world-wide
 Foster interest for future research
on Latin America
 Continue to develop a word class
collection
Delivered through:
 Close contact with HE institutions
 Liaise with official bodies
 Attend events, conferences and
seminars
 Plan visits and exhibitions
 User’s feedback
 Effective ways of monitoring the
development of collections in
relation to the publishing market
D
issem
ination
Care
Selection
Resources
exploitation
(e.g. treasures,
technology)
Identify
gaps +
provide
solutions
Curator

Curatorial responsibilities
External
Contact:
Media,
Diplomatic
Bodies, etc
Formation
of future
Latin American
curators

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Collections Overview
 Latin American Collections began with the library’s
foundation in 1753.
 All Latin American titles published in the UK are deposited
in the BL.
 Latin American materials are acquired mainly in Spanish
and Portuguese with some English and indigenous
languages.
 Acquisition of material focuses on research-level modern
printed monographs and serials. We also acquire second-
hand material and, occasionally, antiquarian.
 The scope of material acquired is broad within the
humanities and social sciences.
 Wide range of format: manuscripts, printed, electronic,
microfilm, sound, image, etc.

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Sources & Formats
Manuscripts (Official documents; personal archives;
drawings, etc.)
Printed material (Travelogues, ephemera, political
pamphlets, etc.)
Microfilm Collections
Sound recording: (Interviews, music, etc.)
Images: (Photographs, engravings, moving images,
posters, stamps, etc.)
Newspapers (Printed, microfilmed and digital)

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Manuscripts
Some Latin American manuscript collections:
Egerton, Sloane and Liverpool papers (documents relating to Latin America)
Coventry papers (indigenous languages)
South Sea Company papers and correspondence, 1711-1856
Vansittart papers (maps and charts, Spanish and Portuguese colonial reports)
Sir Woodbine Parish papers (on the government of Buenos Aires, and on the Falkland Islands and
Patagonia)
Venezuelan papers (a collection of transcripts of official documents relating to the Spanish occupation in
Trinidad, Margarita, Guiana, Venezuela and other adjacent provinces, and to the position there of the
English, Dutch, French and Portuguese, 1530-1824)
British Guiana papers (a collection of transcripts of official and other documents relating to the
Portuguese occupation of Maranhão, Grão Pará and the adjoining parts of Brazil, 1624-1822)
Papers of Sir Austen Henry Layard, UnderSecretary of State for Foreign Affairs, 1852 and 1861-1866
(miscellaneous items on or from most Latin American countries)
A more detailed list of Hispanic and Latin American manuscripts held at the BL can be found at:
http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelplang/spanish/hispcoll/hispmanblspanish/hisman.html

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Printed collections: some early
examples
Juan de Zumárraga, Archbishop of Mexico, Dotrina
breve muy pvechosa de ls cosas q ptenecen a la fe
catholica y nra cristianidad: en estilo llano p comu
inteligencia G.L. (Mexico, 1543[?]; BL Shelfmark:
C.37.e.8). Published in 1543 or 1544, this work is one
of the earliest surviving Mexican imprints, of which
there are few extant copies.
Map of Tenochtitlan – the oldest surviving plan of
Mexico city possibly made for Hernan Cortes.
Woodcut from Praeclara Ferdinandi Cortesii de Nova
Maris Oceani Hispania Narratio, Nürnberg, 1524 (first
publication of Cortes's letters.) BL Shelfmark: C.20.e.9

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Microfilm / Microfiche
Some examples:
Brazil’s popular groups: 1966 – 1987
Brazilian’s work party : 1980 – 2002
Latin American 20th
Century pamphlets (over 5,000 pamphlets, grey
literature, and ephemera from Latin American countries)
Latin American and Caribbean official statistical serials: 19th
to
20th
Century (Demography, administration, finance, commerce, industry, labour,
agriculture, education law and public health. Many of the titles run from the 19th
century to the 1970's)

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Sound Archive
Web catalogue:
Catalogues > Sound Archive > Search (simple and/or advanced)
Examples of various collections:
World and Traditional Music
C616 Como No! (promoter) – various Latin American countries- Concert performances of Latin American music
organised by the Como no! promotion company between 1993 and 1997.
– Unpublished North, South and Central American holdings Wax cylinder Collections
C332, W.F. Cooper Cylinders, Paraguay
27 cylinders of recordings of the ‘Lengua Indians of the Paraguayan Chaco’, recorded in 1910.
– North, South and Central American ethnographic collections
Recordings made by Alberto Jiménez Pérez in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico
and Cuba in 1999
Wildlife Sound
Extracts from Rainforest Requiem (available on CD from British Library)
Items relevant to Latin America can also be found in Jazz, Drama and Literature and Oral History.

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Images
Photographs: Catalogues > Photographically illustrated books or Photographs
Online Images and Imaging Reproduction: http://www.imagesonline.bl.uk
Stamps: Collections > Philatelic

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Other services
– Online exhibition: Spanish American Independence
http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/features/spanishamericanind/homepa
ge.html
– Endangered Archives Programme (EAP)
http://eap.bl.uk/database/overview_project.a4d?
projID=EAP060;r=41
Blog: Americas
http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/americas/
– Twitter:
http://twitter.com/_Americas

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How do I find my research resources?
BL Webpage:
E-Resources and journals:
> e-Resources > Arts & Humanities > By Subject > American Studies OR Hispanic Studies
Access to:
Journal/articles database [e.g. HAPI online, HLAS]
[Humanities resources > Periodical Indexes > Arts & Humanities Citation
Index]
Access to e-texts SFX
British newspapers online (Electronic Databases> 19th
Century British Library Newspapers)

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Online Open Access Resources for Research
on Latin America
– WordCat (a global catalogue of library collections)
http://www.worldcat.org/
–Fundacion MAPFRE (Directorio Web de Archivos Iberoamericanos)
http://www.mapfre.com/fundacion/es/centrodocs/3_4-directorio-iberoamericano.shtml
– ACLAIIR (Advisory Council on Latin American and Iberian Information
Resources)
http://www.aclaiir.org.uk/
– SALALM (Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials)
http://www.library.cornell.edu/colldev/salalmhome.html
– REDIAL (Red Europea de Información y Documentación Sobre América Latina)
http://www.red-redial.net/
– LAP (Latin American Pamphlet – Digital Collection from Harvard University
mostly 19th
century) http
://vc.lib.harvard.edu/vc/deliver/home?_collection=LAP

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Open access – Electronic texts and databases
– Intute (Webpage resources)
http://www.intute.ac.uk/
–Redalyc (Red de Revistas Cientificas de America Latina y el
Caribe, Espana y Portugal)
http://redalyc.uaemex.mx/
– Latindex http
://www.latindex.unam.mx/
– OAIster (Open Archive Initiative – open catalogue for digital
resources)
http://www.oaister.org/
– SciElo (Scientific Electronic Library Online)
http://www.scielo.br/