The Latin American Ephemera Collection contains thousands of digitized pamphlets, brochures, flyers, posters, placards and other printed items created since around the last quarter of the 20th century by a wide variety of social activists, non-governmental organizations, government agencies, political parties, public policy think tanks, and other types of organizations across Latin America, in order to publicize their views, positions, agendas, policies, events, and activities. The vast majority are rare, hard-to-find primary sources unavailable elsewhere.
The Digital Archive of Latin American and Caribbean Ephemera provides access to a vast subset of the collection consisting mostly of materials originally produced around the turn of the 20th century and after, including many obtained in recent years which are being added on an ongoing basis.
Latin American Ephemera: Digitized Microfilm Sets is gradually making digitally available an earlier subset of the collection that is not included in the Digital Archive and that for years had remained accessible only in microfilm or by visiting Special Collections in person. To review parts of the collection which still are not digitally available, click on the Ephemera in Microfilm and Special Collections tab near the top of this guide.
The Digital Archive of Latin American and Caribbean Ephemera is a steadily growing repository mostly containing materials originally produced around the turn of the 20th century and after, including materials created and obtained in recent years being added on an ongoing basis.
Latin American Ephemera: Digitized Microfilm Sets is gradually making digitally available an early and vast subset of the Latin American Ephemera Collection that was only accessible in microfilm or by visiting Special Collections. In time, it will include more than three hundred thematically and geographically organized sub-collections ranging in size from a handful of items to hundreds of them.
The Princeton University Library began to collect Latin American ephemera and gray literature in the 1970s. Barbara Hadley Stein, the University’s first Bibliographer for Latin America, Spain and Portugal (1966-1977), initially sought to document some of the major political developments of the period, including the rise to power of military dictatorships, coup d’états, the institutionalization of the Cuban Revolution, and the popular responses to those developments. Her successor, Peter T. Johnson (1977-2003), expanded the geographic and thematic scope of the collection and systematized the process of organizing, cataloging, and preserving it. Fernando Acosta-Rodríguez, Princeton’s current Librarian for Latin American, Iberian and Latino Studies, has overseen the collection since 2003.
Before the Digital Archive of Latin American and Caribbean Ephemera became available in early 2015, access to the material was provided by slowly developing thematic sub-collections, cataloging and microfilming them, and, in many instances, creating corresponding finding aids. Approximately 350 sub-collections were processed in such manner over the years. They remained accessible only through interlibrary loan or by visiting Princeton University in person until the Latin American Ephemera: Digitized Microfilm Sets site became available in 2023.
Access to all of the material collected and processed before the Digital Archive of Latin American and Caribbean Ephemera became available was provided by slowly developing thematic sub-collections, cataloging and microfilming them, and, in many instances, creating corresponding finding aids. Approximately 350 sub-collections were processed in such manner over the years. They remained accessible only in microfilm or by visiting Princeton University in person until the Latin American Ephemera: Digitized Microfilm Sets site started to gradually make them available in 2023. In time, all of the sub-collections in microfilm will be included in the site. For an overview of all the ephemera subcollections, including those that still are not digitally available, see the listings under Ephemera in Microfilm and Special Collections.
Librarian for Latin American, Iberian and Latino Studies
facosta@princeton.edu
Firestone Library A-16-J2
