This crowned nun, María Josefa Lina de la Santísima Trinidad, is presented at the age of 19
making her monastic profession (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Primary sources that have been edited, reprinted in facsimiles, or transferred to microfilm can be borrowed through E-ZBorrow or Interlibrary Loan if they are not in Tripod. Many of them will be listed in Tripod or WorldCat under subject terms and the word "sources." For example, the search latin america* history sources produces books including:
Books printed in earlier time periods are kept in libraries' rare book collections. You can go to Haverford's Special Collections, Bryn Mawr, the University of Pennsylvania, and other local libraries to see examples of these books: