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Primary & Secondary Sources

This guide will help you learn the difference between primary and secondary sources in various subject areas and provides resources for locating primary sources, both in the library and on the open web.

Library Databases

These databases require a Fresno State account for access.

Ethnic Diversity Source is a dedicated resource covering the culture, traditions, social treatment and lived experiences of different ethnic groups in America. It includes full text from newspapers, magazines, and other primary source documents as well as journal articles and e-books.

Hispanic American Newspapers 1808-1980 includes hundreds of Hispanic American newspapers in both English and Spanish.

 

Chicano and Latin American History Resources

Chronicling America: Mexican Digitized newspapers from 1897 to 1962 from the Library of Congress.

Digital Public Library of America Curated sets of primary sources.

Historic Mexican and Mexican American Press Mexican and Mexican American publications published in Tucson, El Paso, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Sonora, Mexico from the mid-1800s to the 1970s.

Latino (Reveal Digital, Independent Voices) Small publications related to the Chicano Movement.

Mexican Americans in the Columbia River Basin Collections from multiple institutions in seven U.S. states and one Canadian province.

Radio Bilingue A selection of programs from Línea Abierta, the first and only national live talk and call-in program in public broadcasting interconnecting Spanish-speaking audiences and newsmakers throughout the United States and Mexico.

California collections

La Voz de Aztlan A supplement to Fresno State's Daily Collegian (1969-1988) that serves as a lens into the social and historical events that are relevant to or informed by the campus Chicano experience.

StoryCorps interviews Oral histories of ten Latino residents of the San Joaquin Valley, produced by the Fresno State Library and StoryCorps.

CI Chicana/o Studies Digital collections from CSU Channel Islands tracing the historical, cultural, social, and political experiences of Chicanos.

Latina(o) Cultural Heritage Archives Photographs and documents held at Cal State Northridge that capture the history of Latino and Chicana/o people and culture in Southern California.

Chicano Oral History Project Oral histories capturing Chicana/o activists’ involvement in and contributions to the Mexican American civil rights movement in Sacramento from 1965 through 1980.

Inland Empire Hispanic News Newspaper founded in 1987 by Graciano Gomez and published between twice and four times a month until 2010.

Carmen Sandoval Fernandez Collection Posters, broadsides, and advertisements related to the Chicano movement, from the 1970s and 1980s.

Centro Cultural de la Raza archives Slides and other materials relating to the San Diego artists' collective, co-founded in 1970 by Chicano poet Alurista and artist Victor Ochoa.

Galería De La Raza archives Administrative records, creative materials, and other items documenting activities of the San Francisco Bay Area Chicano cultural arts center. Includes work by many prominent Chicano(a)/Latino(a) artists.

Herman Baca Collection Papers of Herman Baca, a National City, California, Chicano rights activist and prominent member of the Mexican-American community, documenting the contributions and accomplishments made by Herman Baca and the Committee on Chicano Rights.

Higgins (Floyd Halleck) Photographs of Mexican Sugar Beet Workers Photographs from 1942 taken mainly in the agricultural areas of the California communities of Woodland, Pleasanton, Manteca, and Salinas.

Lucero (Linda) collection on La Raza Silkscreen Center/La Raza Graphics Silkscreen prints from the 1970s and 1980s by Chicano and Latino artists.

Montoya (José) papers Correspondence, events, and sketchbooks covering his life from around 1954 through the late 2000s.

Ochoa (Victor) papers Art files, exhibition files, ephemera, posters and prints and other printed matter, photographs and slides, correspondence files, and recordings of one of the pioneers of San Diego's Chicano art movement.