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Research Guides

What are primary sources?

Primary sources are the evidence of history. They are the first-hand accounts of an event or period of time created by participants or observers. There are many kinds of primary sources including texts (letters, diaries, government reports, newspaper accounts, novels, autobiographies), images (photographs, paintings, advertisements, posters), artifacts (buildings, clothing, sculpture, coins) and audio/visual (songs, oral history interviews, films).

Image: Banner of El Avenir newspaper

Collections of Primary Sources

Manuscript Collections @ UW Libraries

Special Collections has manuscript collections of individuals and organizations illustrating the history of the Sephardic community in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest. To find additional manuscript collections search Archives West, a database of collection guides (finding aids) to manuscript and historic photograph collections held by libraries in the Northwest.

For manuscript collections elsewhere, search directory the Center for Jewish History and ArchiveGrid.

Ladino-language newspapers

Newspapers listed here include those freely available online via the National Library of Israel and those available on microfilm. The microfilmed newspapers are housed in the Government Publications, Maps, Microforms & Newspapers section on the ground floor of Suzzallo Library. Microform scanners are available.

To find additional microfilmed newspapers  at the UW, search for: sephardim newspapers in UW Libraries Search.

Please note that many historic newspapers have incomplete runs and may be missing issues.

Other Resources