Literary Research with Primary Sources

The University of New Mexico Libraries provide access to literary manuscripts in several forms. Various original manuscripts are held in the Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections. Additionally, printed facsimile editions of works by great authors are available throughout the library. Also remember to do an Internet search, as many authors' manuscripts have been digitized by the libraries that own them.

UNM Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections 

To search the Center's complete holdings, go to the New Mexico Archives Online, limit your search to "University of New Mexico Center for Southwest Research," and enter a subject term such as literature, fiction, poetry, etc., or an author's name. 

Collections of manuscripts that are particularly well suited to learning about literary research include:

Printed facsimile reproductions of manuscripts by many major English authors, such James Joyce, Charles Dickens, and Emily Dickinson, are available in Special Collections and Zimmerman Library. To search for them in the catalog, simply enter the author's name and the term "facsimile" in the keyword search box of the UNM Library Catalog.

Many literary manuscripts (especially ones by well known authors) have been digitized by the libraries that own them and made accessible in open-access online repositories. Try doing an Internet search using an author's name and/or the title of a work, along with a term like manuscripts, digital archive, online papers, etc.