According to the Barnard Archives Research Guide Archival Research at Barnard and Beyond, "Archives and archival collections are unique constellations of unpublished records made in the course of normal activities. Archives are comprised of primary sources, but not all primary sources are archival."
When doing research that involves primary sources, you might be interested in visiting an archival collection.
To explore what's available in archival collections at Barnard and Columbia, you can start with a CLIO Archives search. Use keywords that might map onto areas that interest you (including names of possible creators of records, subjects/themes, places).
Archive Grid lets you keyword search collection descriptions from archives around the world. Entries provide contact information and links to relevant web sites. You can narrow your search to archives in the New York City area.
Archivistas en Espanglish is a collective of transnational Latin American & Latinx archivists and cultural workers that aims to incubate and amplify spaces of memory-building within las Américas. From their website: "we center the lived and intersectional histories and experiences of nuestros pueblos & communities as they exist: past, present & future." AE's web site has an abundance of amazing resources related to Latin American and Latinx archives and memory work (in particular, look at the Recursos section!)
The list below includes digital collections that offer access to digitized archival images and texts from a range of libraries, archives, museums, and spaces of cultural memory based in the United States, Latin America, and/or Spain, related to the histories of Latin America and Spain. These collections can typically be browsed and searched by keyword, and occasionally there are options to limit by date of creation or publication. Note: some collections offer guidance on how to cite archival sources, so look out for this!