Primary Sources
A primary source is something that was created and/or experienced at the time being studied. They provide a first-hand or eye witness account. Examples of primary sources include: historical documents, an artifact, a diary or journal, speeches, oral histories, photos, newspaper clippings, letters, etc. Reproductions of primary sources (remember, we won't have the originals) can often be found in books and on websites.
Find even more primary sources and information about using them in the Primary Source LibGuide.
Primary Sources in Books
The Essential Codex Mendoza by Call Number: REF F1219.56 .C625 C64 1997ISBN: 0520204549Publication Date: 1997-01-31
Early civilizations in the Americas: Biography and Primary Sources by Call Number: F1219.74 .B46 2005ISBN: 9780787676803Publication Date: 2005-03-01Available online and in print
The Schlager Anthology of Hispanic America by ISBN: 9781935306856Publication Date: 2023-03-10Primary documents of Hispanic America from the 1100s to the present day. The "Pre-Contact" section has Mesoamerican primary sources.
Databases with Primary Sources
- U.S. History In Context This link opens in a new windowUncover information on hundreds of the most significant people, events, and topics in U.S. history from a variety of sources.
Internet Primary Sources
- Archaeology - National Museum AnthropologyA collection of photos of artifacts in Mesoamerican archaeology.
- Codex Zouche-NuttallThis is one of a small number of extant Mexican codices (screenfold manuscript books) dating to pre-Hispanic times. It is made of deer skin and is comprised of 47 leaves. The Codex contains two narratives: one side of the document relates the history of important centres in the Mixtec region, while the other, starting at the opposite end, records the genealogy, marriages and political and military feats of the Mixtec ruler, Lord Eight Deer Jaguar-Claw.
- Digital Florentine CodexThe 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.
- History of the Incaento de Gas/ by Pedro Sarmimboa and The execution of the Inca Tupac Amaru, by Captain Baltasar de OcampoAccount of the province of Vilcapampa and a narrative of the execution of the Inca Tupac Amaru, by Captain Baltasar de Ocampo (written in 1610) translated from a manuscript in the British museum
- History of the Incas. Supplement: a narrative of the vice-regal embassy to Vilcabamba, 1571, and of the execution of the Inca Amaru, Dec. 1571.Translated from a manuscript found in the Convent of Santa Domingo at Lima, as printed in the Revista historica, Lima, 1907.
- Mesoamerican Painted ManuscriptsThe digital collection, Mesoamerican Painted Manuscripts at Tulane University's Latin American Library, presents images of the Library’s holdings of original and rare copies of Mexican manuscripts painted in the native pictorial tradition. They are painted on a variety of materials such as animal hide, maguey, amate or fig bark paper, linen, and European paper; their content dates to the early contact period (A.D. 1500 to 1700).
- MesoloreMesolore is a bilingual resource for scholars and students of Mesoamerica that includes interactive indigenous documents from Central Mexico and Oaxaca in the 16th century.
- Modern History Sourcebook: A Aztec Account of the Conquest of MexicoIn 1519 Hernan Cortés sailed from Cuba, landed in Mexico and made his way to the Aztec capital. Miguel LeonPortilla, a Mexican anthropologist, gathered accounts by the Aztecs, some of which were written shortly after the conquest.
- Pedro de Cieza de Léon: Chronicles of the Incas, 1540Another view of the Incas, from a conquistador. It provides quite a lot of information about the Incan economy--a redistributive typical of all early civilizations.
- Pre-Columbian CollectionThe Pre-Columbian Collection includes objects created during three thousand years of history in Mesoamerica, the Andes, and the Intermediate Area of Latin America.