LMU students, faculty, and staff now have access to a new database: Latin American Histories in the United States, available from the AM (formerly Adam Matthew) academic publishing company. This database provides access to primary source (archival) material from four institutions:
- California State University (Cal-State), Dominguez Hills
- City College of New York
- GLBT Historical Society
- University of California (UC), San Diego
The subjects in the Latin American Histories in the United States database cover American history, labor and civil rights, Latin American and Caribbean studies, Latinx studies, and sociology. The types of materials include:
- artwork and illustrations
- audiovisual materials
- correspondence
- diaries, journals, scrapbooks
- ephemera
- newspapers, periodicals
- organisational papers
- personal papers, and
- photographs
These materials include content in English and Spanish, representing Mexican American, Dominican American, and other Latinx communities with a focus on grassroots activism and under-represented identities including Latinas, the LGBTQ+ communities, and the Afro-Latinx community.
Navigating the Database
Navigating this database is facilitated by guides explaining its “Nature and Scope,” along with other guides allowing you to browse the database by “Essays and Video Interviews,” a “Guide to Archival Collections,” “Exhibitions,” “Thematic Guides,” and a “Digital Humanities” collection.
One of the best features of this database is its “Latina/o/x/e Press Map,” which allows you to easily identify areas across the United States where related publications originated. For example, if you look for publications that originated in the Los Angeles area, you would discover a list of more than 50 publications, as show here:
Another key feature is the database’s “Searching Guide.” Using the searching guide is helpful because it leads to research recommendations to find specific people, places, and events. Furthermore, if you go to searching guide, then “Browsing Pathways,” you would be led to the “View Documents” page, where you can select “View all Documents” to explore all of the primary source content at once, either through browsing the entire list, or using multiple filter options on the side bar.
In addition to View all Documents, the “View Documents” page offers three pathways: Browse by Collection, Browse by Theme, and Browse Audio and Video. These allow you to choose your own research style with the option to filter results or search for a specific term within your selection. Within “Browse Audio and Video” you can find more than 50 videos that you can sort by any of this resource’s 24 archival collections using the “Filter results” column to the left of the screen, including the “Bienvenido Lara Flores Collection” and the “Chicano History Collection,” as shown here:
It is also noteworthy that, in addition the usual paper-based materials usually found in any archives, the Latin American Histories in the United States database also features audio content, such as radio broadcast recordings found within the “La Raza En Acción Local Audio Collection.” This audio collection is strongly recommended for anyone interested in learning about the Chicane movement during the 1970s.
Create an Account and Save Your Research
Anyone taking a course related to the history of Latin Americans within the U.S. may find it beneficial to create a free account in the Latin American Histories in the United States database to save items found throughout the research process in this and any other database provided by AM.
The William H. Hannon Library currently provides the LMU community with access to 106 AM databases containing a wealth of primary sources. To view the full list of AM databases:
- Go to the library’s homepage and click on the “Database List” link.
- On the next webpage, search for “Adam Matthews” in the “Database Search” bar.
- The search results will include 106 Adam Matthews (AM) primary source databases to which the library subscribes, including Latin American Histories in the United States.
If you have any questions, you may contact the librarian liaison to Chicana/Chicano-Latina/Latino Studies and author of this post, Ray Andrade.
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