HIST 465: Race, Slavery, and Making of the Atlantic World

A secondary source is a publication, such as a book, journal article, research report, or other digital or print document, created by author(s) who did not experience phenomena first-hand, directly participate in events, or witness or influence the conditions under investigation. Secondary sources do not constitute evidence per se, but rather, provide forms of interpretation, analysis, evaluation, or commentary derived from the content of primary sources and/or other secondary sources. For the purposes of historical research, secondary sources generally constitute scholarly books and journal articles or reference materials such as encyclopedias, handbooks, or dictionaries.

Primary Source Village. "Definition of a Secondary Source." University of Illinois Library; “Primary vs. Secondary Sources.” Wingspan: Center for Learning and Writing Support. Anschutz Library, University of Kansas.

Sources of Background Information

• Credo Reference -- provides searchable access to a comprehensive collection of highly-specialized dictionaries, encyclopedias, and handbooks representing all subject areas. This is a good place to go for succinct definitions and explanations of concepts, theories, topics, or events and to begin your search for essential background information.
• USC Libraries Catalog -- provides access to print and online books, digital resources, and selected full-text journal, magazine, and newspaper articles owned by or made accessible online through subscriptions to databases from the USC Libraries. Note that you can designate the type of source you want to search from the choices below the search box or by clicking on the advanced search option.

Descriptions of resources are adapted or quoted from vendor websites.

LIBRARY CATALOGS

If you identify an item of interest from any of the comprehensive catalogs listed below, use the Libraries’ search engine to see if it is accessible from the USC Libraries. If it is not available, you may request it from the Libraries’ Interlibrary Loan/Document Delivery service by completing this online form. More information about this service can be found here.

• WorldCat -- a database to locate books, dissertations, journals, and multimedia items held in libraries throughout the world. Updated daily, it includes more than 1.5 billion records representing more than 400 languages. Search WorldCat to identify books and special collections that are not found in the USC Libraries' catalog.
• British Library Interim Catalogue -- includes the majority of the printed collection items and some freely available electronic resources catalogued by the British Library before April 2023. This catalog is interim because previous catalog was damaged in a cyber-attack in October 2023.
• Bibliothèque Nationale de France Catalogue Général – this the online catalog containing the majority of references and documents conserved on all Bibliothèque nationale de France sites. Contents include books and journals kept in the storage and on the shelves, documents in audio format, and documents digitized by the national library.
• Biblioteca Nacional de España General Catalogue -- makes available bibliographical references of all documents held in the national library of Spain, including books, manuscripts, newspapers, graphics, music, audio-visual and sound records. The advanced search allows you to refine your search by combining different elements. You can change the results by filtering by different aspects of the record [e.g., author, year, etc.].

MULTIDISCIPLINARY DATABASES

• ProQuest Multiple -- a database with extensive full-text and linked coverage of scholarly journals, news magazines, and newspapers. This is a good place to begin your search for scholarly journal articles or current news coverage and to obtain a multidisciplinary perspective on your topic.
• JSTOR -- an archive of full-text journals in the social sciences, humanities, and sciences published from the first issue to within five to two years before present. JSTOR does not contain current research studies, but it is a good source to search for historical research published in journals.
• Policy Commons -- a platform for objective, fact-based research from the world’s leading policy experts, nonpartisan think tanks, and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations. The database provides advanced searching across millions of pages of books, articles, working papers, reports, policy briefs, data sets, tables, charts, media, case studies, and statistical publications, including archived reports from more than 200 defunct think tanks. Coverage is international in scope.
• ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global -- comprehensive collection of multidisciplinary doctoral dissertations and Master's theses, featuring over six million records from more than 70 countries and over 4,100 institutions, of which 3.6 million are full-text titles from 1997-current, with select older titles. An important database for identifying studies on very specific topics and to review citations to sources used by the author.

CORE HISTORICAL RESEARCH DATABASES

• America: History and Life -- database that covers the history of the United States and Canada. It includes key English-language historic journals, selected historic journals from major countries, state and local history journals, and coverage of other relevant journals in the social sciences and humanities.
• Historical Abstracts -- this database includes key history journals from major countries, as well as relevant selected journals from the social sciences and humanities. Covers world history outside of the United States and Canada. All article summaries [i.e., abstracts] are in English.

SPECIALIZED SECONDARY SOURCE DATABASES

• African Diaspora Online -- contents allows scholars to discover the migrations, communities, and ideologies of the African Diaspora through the voices of people of African descent, with a focus on communities in the Caribbean, Brazil, India, United Kingdom, and France, the collection includes primary source documents, including personal papers, organizational papers, journals, newsletters, court documents, letters, and ephemera. Coverage is from 1860 to the present, but the database contains sources about the Atlantic slave trade.
• African Journals Online -- the world's largest online collection of African-published, peer-reviewed scholarly journals. The site currently hosts over 370 peer-reviewed journals from 27 African countries, many focused on international affairs. Coverage is from 1998 to the present.
• Digital Library of the Caribbean -- a cooperative digital library for resources from and about the Caribbean and circum-Caribbean. The database provides access to digitized versions of Caribbean cultural, historical, and research materials currently held in archives, libraries, and private collections.
• Europe and the Atlantic Slave Trade – link to entries from the Digital Encyclopedia of European History that provide an overview of the movement of enslaved peoples from Africa to the New World, a critical analysis of the presumed impact of the slave trade on the European economy, and an entry about the participation among Scandinavian countries in the Atlantic slave trade.
• HeinOnline Slavery in America and the World: History, Culture, and Law -- accessible from the Law Journal Library e-resources link, this database provides essential legal materials on slavery in the United States and the English-speaking world. Includes statutes passed by every colony and state, as well as federal statutes, and all related state and federal cases. Includes numerous documents related to the Atlantic slave trade.
• Oxford Bibliographies: Atlantic History -- combining the features of an annotated bibliography with a specialized encyclopedia, this resource guides students to the core scholarship across a wide variety of subjects. This link directs you to the increasingly abundant literature that is being written about Atlantic history.
• The Palgrave Handbook of Global Slavery throughout History -- an open access handbook that takes a comparative and global approach to analyze the practice of slavery throughout history. In order to understand why slavery developed and how it functioned in various societies is to understand an important and widespread practice in world civilizations. With research traditionally being dominated by the Atlantic world, this collection aims to illuminate slavery that existed in not only the Americas, but also ancient, medieval, North and sub-Saharan African, Near Eastern, and Asian societies.
• Slavery, Abolition and Social Justice, 1490-2007 -- bringing together primary source documents from archives and libraries across North America and the United Kingdom, this database includes primary source documents and collections from libraries and archives across the Atlantic world. Close attention is being given to the varieties of slavery, the legacy of slavery, the social justice perspective, and the continued existence of slavery today.

JOURNALS

• Atlantic Studies -- a multidisciplinary quarterly that publishes research about the Atlantic world as a conceptual, historical, and cultural space. It explores transnational, transhistorical, and transdisciplinary intersections, but also addresses global flows and perspectives beyond the Atlantic as a closed or self-contained space.
• Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies -- publishes peer-reviewed research articles and debates on Latin America and the Caribbean in English, French, Portuguese and Spanish. Each issue contains several articles as well as reviews of recent publications about Latin America and the Caribbean. The journal also publishes a feature on Reflections in Latin American and Caribbean Studies in which leading scholars are asked to reflect on the field.
• Caribbean Studies -- multidisciplinary journal published since 1961 by the Institute of Caribbean Studies, College of Social Sciences at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus. The journal publishes original works on the social sciences and the humanities in English, Spanish, or French languages divided in four parts: articles, research notes, book review essays, and news and events.
• Iberoamericana: Nordic Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies -- open access interdisciplinary and bi-lingual journal managed by the Nordic Institute of Latin American Studies of Stockholm University in collaboration with other Nordic universities. The journal publishes research that addresses Latin America and the Caribbean from any of the disciplinary approaches of the social sciences and humanities.
• Journal of Eastern Caribbean Studies -- an area studies journal focusing on Eastern Caribbean island states, extending to the archipelago islands in the wider Caribbean, showcasing research and knowledge about the small state experience in the Eastern Caribbean, their economies, their relations of power, their cultural affect and socioeconomic challenges.
• The Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology -- a peer-reviewed journal of  original anthropological research on Latin America and the Caribbean, focusing on areas within sociocultural anthropology, social archaeology, sociolinguistics, ethnohistory, bio-physical anthropology as well as the critical study of social and cultural processes in Latin America and the Caribbean.
• Latin American and Caribbean Ethnic Studies -- a cross-disciplinary venue for quality research on ethnicity, race relations, and indigenous peoples. It publishes case studies, comparative analysis, and theoretical research that reflect innovative and critical perspectives, focused on any country or countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
• The Latin American Research Review -- publishes research and review essays on Latin America, the Caribbean, and Latina/Latino studies. It covers the social sciences and the humanities, including the fields of anthropology, economics, geography, history, literature and cultural studies, political science, and sociology, with artiles in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.
• The Middle Atlantic Review of Latin American Studies -- an open access journal of scholarly articles, essays, research notes, book reviews, and periodic special issues focusing on relations among Latin American and Caribbean countries and with other states and regions of the world, incorporating rigorous analysis from a variety of theoretical and methodological perspectives.
• New West Indian Guide -- published continuously since 1919, this is the oldest scholarly journal on the Caribbean, featuring English-language articles in the fields of anthropology, art, archaeology, economics, geography, geology, history, international relations, linguistics, literature, music, political science and sociology. It includes the world's most complete review section on Caribbean books, covering some 150 books each year. Entire content is open access and the site includes a search option.
• Wadabagei: A Journal of the Caribbean & Its Diasporas -- publishes scholarly articles, occasional creative works, and book reviews from diverse fields, including social sciences, humanities, religion, and the arts with special emphasis on the adjustment and acculturation of Caribbean immigrants to North America but also explores the Caribbean experience throughout the Caribbean Basin and in all geographic locations where Caribbean peoples have settled.

Descriptions of resources are adapted or quoted from vendor websites.