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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Acquirerelevant research material

Facilitate public

access to collections +information

Engage inoutreach

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

Dissemination

Care

Selection

Resources exploitation

(e.g. treasures,technology)

Identifygaps + provide solutions

Curator

Curatorial responsibilities

External Contact:Media,

DiplomaticBodies, etc

Formation of future

Latin Americancurators

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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: 19 th 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/homepage.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/