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This collection consists of official Dutch-American diplomatic correspondence covering the period from 1784 to 1973. Taken together, the documents of this collection help scholars to shed further light on some of the most important watersheds in both European and American history and clarify the historical evolution of transatlantic relations from Thomas Jefferson to the end of the Bretton Woods System.
The collection chiefly contains State Department’s instructions to US diplomats and consuls dispatched in the Netherlands as well as letters, reports, recommendations, dossiers, and memos compiled by American diplomats posted in The Hague and across the whole Dutch colonial empire. The documents cover a broad range of topics including political, economic, and military relations, trade policies, migration, cultural and religious exchanges, and transnational social issues such as civil rights, pacifism, environmentalism, labor relations, and human rights.
A large part of the collection focuses on the post-1945 era and comprises papers on the development and execution of the Marshall Plan in the Netherlands, on the future of the Dutch colonial empire, and on the development of post-war European and Dutch politics. The postwar dispatches from The Hague are indeed an extremely useful source through which to read the evolution of the European integration process, the building of a transatlantic security community, the organization of concerted anti-communist activities, and the reactions to the emergence of a widespread anti-American sentiment in Europe in coincidence with the escalation of the Vietnam War.
This collection comprises 174,926 scans and is part of Transatlantic Relations Online: Digital Archives of the Roosevelt Institute for American Studies, which is the result of ongoing cooperation between the Roosevelt Institute for American Studies and Brill.
Image caption: Reijn Dirksen, 1950 (US Economic Cooperation Administration, Washington, DC) - Public Domain
The collection chiefly contains State Department’s instructions to US diplomats and consuls dispatched in the Netherlands as well as letters, reports, recommendations, dossiers, and memos compiled by American diplomats posted in The Hague and across the whole Dutch colonial empire. The documents cover a broad range of topics including political, economic, and military relations, trade policies, migration, cultural and religious exchanges, and transnational social issues such as civil rights, pacifism, environmentalism, labor relations, and human rights.
A large part of the collection focuses on the post-1945 era and comprises papers on the development and execution of the Marshall Plan in the Netherlands, on the future of the Dutch colonial empire, and on the development of post-war European and Dutch politics. The postwar dispatches from The Hague are indeed an extremely useful source through which to read the evolution of the European integration process, the building of a transatlantic security community, the organization of concerted anti-communist activities, and the reactions to the emergence of a widespread anti-American sentiment in Europe in coincidence with the escalation of the Vietnam War.
This collection comprises 174,926 scans and is part of Transatlantic Relations Online: Digital Archives of the Roosevelt Institute for American Studies, which is the result of ongoing cooperation between the Roosevelt Institute for American Studies and Brill.
Image caption: Reijn Dirksen, 1950 (US Economic Cooperation Administration, Washington, DC) - Public Domain
The Henk van Stekelenburg Collection, 1820-1960
Henk van Stekelenburg (1929-1999) was a prominent Dutch historian who worked mostly on Catholic emigration from the Dutch region of North Brabant to North America. This collection includes his manuscripts and detailed descriptions of the most relevant archival materials that he consulted. It also offers personal correspondence, research notes, interviews, bibliographical references, genealogical information, immigration records, and illustrations about Dutch-Catholic immigration to the US and Canada from 1820 to 1960.
The uniqueness of this collection stems from van Stekelenburg’s focus on the individual motivations that induced Dutch people to migrate, his attention to the social composition of Dutch emigrants, to the political reaction of their governments, and to the many organizations that helped them settle in the New World. This collection, indeed, brings in the voices and perspectives of non-state agents and provides further examples of the non-linear processes of assimilation that Dutch migrants had to go through in North America.
Finally, the documents of this collection reveal the emphasis on cultural propaganda, conceived as an effective means to spread a certain range of ideas among a large and well-defined target audience, that characterized the phenomenon of Dutch-Catholic emigration. In doing so, this collection opens the field to further inter- and multi-disciplinary studies on the ways in which Dutch popular media, including radio, the press, and cinema, introduced and framed the numerous possibilities of overseas migration.
This collection comprises 13,081 scans and is part of Transatlantic Relations Online: Digital Archives of the Roosevelt Institute for American Studies, which is the result of ongoing cooperation between the Roosevelt Institute for American Studies and Brill.
Image caption: Author Unknown; Mrs. van Engelen, a Dutch woman packing her stuff before leaving for Holambra, Brazil, 1950 (National Archive, The Hague) - Public Domain
The uniqueness of this collection stems from van Stekelenburg’s focus on the individual motivations that induced Dutch people to migrate, his attention to the social composition of Dutch emigrants, to the political reaction of their governments, and to the many organizations that helped them settle in the New World. This collection, indeed, brings in the voices and perspectives of non-state agents and provides further examples of the non-linear processes of assimilation that Dutch migrants had to go through in North America.
Finally, the documents of this collection reveal the emphasis on cultural propaganda, conceived as an effective means to spread a certain range of ideas among a large and well-defined target audience, that characterized the phenomenon of Dutch-Catholic emigration. In doing so, this collection opens the field to further inter- and multi-disciplinary studies on the ways in which Dutch popular media, including radio, the press, and cinema, introduced and framed the numerous possibilities of overseas migration.
This collection comprises 13,081 scans and is part of Transatlantic Relations Online: Digital Archives of the Roosevelt Institute for American Studies, which is the result of ongoing cooperation between the Roosevelt Institute for American Studies and Brill.
Image caption: Author Unknown; Mrs. van Engelen, a Dutch woman packing her stuff before leaving for Holambra, Brazil, 1950 (National Archive, The Hague) - Public Domain
The Stallinga-Ganzevoort Collection, 1890-1960
This collection documents the activities of the Stichting Landverhuizing Nederland (SLN) in Brazil, the US, and (predominantly) Canada. Much of the material comes from the Canadian offices of the SLN, which was established in 1931 and remained open till the late 1950s with the purpose of selecting and assisting Dutch emigrants. Before the body of original documents was destroyed, the Canadian scholar Herman Ganzevoort had it microfilmed with the support of Gerrit Stallinga.
The collection contains correspondence, reports, lists, and pamphlets regarding Dutch immigration to the Americas (mostly in English), as well as correspondence from and about individual immigrants’ experiences (mostly in Dutch).
As with the van Stekelenburg collection, these documents illuminate the complex history of Dutch emigration, expanding traditional narratives chronologically, thematically, and spatially. In particular, the Stallinga-Ganzevoort collection focuses on the lives and choices of emigrants belonging to different Christian denominations (predominantly Protestant) and clarifies the importance of the continuous educational campaigns that Dutch churches were carrying on at home with the aim of training those professional figures whose expertise was needed on the other side of the Atlantic.
At the same time, this collection provides information about Dutch emigrants who decided to settle in such countries as Brazil. In this particular setting, Dutch people encountered different and partly novel problems and could not always rely on pre-existing national networks or communities. For this reason, the collection is especially appealing to those scholars who study global migrations, transnational identities, and cross-cultural exchanges.
This collection comprises 17,011 scans and is part of Transatlantic Relations Online: Digital Archives of the Roosevelt Institute for American Studies, which is the result of ongoing cooperation between the Roosevelt Institute for American Studies and Brill.
Image caption: Daan Noske / Anefo, The trip of four new couples from Schiphol to Canada, 1954 (National Archive, The Hague) - Public Domain
The collection contains correspondence, reports, lists, and pamphlets regarding Dutch immigration to the Americas (mostly in English), as well as correspondence from and about individual immigrants’ experiences (mostly in Dutch).
As with the van Stekelenburg collection, these documents illuminate the complex history of Dutch emigration, expanding traditional narratives chronologically, thematically, and spatially. In particular, the Stallinga-Ganzevoort collection focuses on the lives and choices of emigrants belonging to different Christian denominations (predominantly Protestant) and clarifies the importance of the continuous educational campaigns that Dutch churches were carrying on at home with the aim of training those professional figures whose expertise was needed on the other side of the Atlantic.
At the same time, this collection provides information about Dutch emigrants who decided to settle in such countries as Brazil. In this particular setting, Dutch people encountered different and partly novel problems and could not always rely on pre-existing national networks or communities. For this reason, the collection is especially appealing to those scholars who study global migrations, transnational identities, and cross-cultural exchanges.
This collection comprises 17,011 scans and is part of Transatlantic Relations Online: Digital Archives of the Roosevelt Institute for American Studies, which is the result of ongoing cooperation between the Roosevelt Institute for American Studies and Brill.
Image caption: Daan Noske / Anefo, The trip of four new couples from Schiphol to Canada, 1954 (National Archive, The Hague) - Public Domain
c. 1880-1940
This collection contains the periodicals that were accumulated by the Austrian anarchist, historian and collector Max Nettlau (1865-1944), together with a number of later additions, held at the International Institute of Social History (IISH) in Amsterdam. It contains numerous rare and, in many cases, unique titles. The collection of the IISH provides a richness of documentation pertaining explicitly to the formative anarchist and anarcho-syndicalist episode (1890-1920) in the history of Latin American labor movements. Included are the Argentine periodicals La Protesta, La Vanguardia and Acción Obrera; the Brazilian O Exempio. Jornal do Povo and Battaglia; the Chilean Voz del Mar; and the Mexican Ariete, Redención Obrera, Revolución Social and El Sindicalista. This collection consists of 971 Latin American anarchist and labor periodicals. The periodicals in this collection have been organized by country. In addition, each series has been subdivided into periodicals with and periodicals without a known (corporate) author. The arrangement is alphabetical throughout.
An EAD finding aid is available. In addition, a set of 971 MARC21 records is available which provides a detailed description of each individual periodical in this collection. These MARC21 records have been created at the University of Michigan University Library, Harvard College Library, Cornell University Library and The General Libraries of The University of Texas at Austin.
Also available on microfilm (180 reels).
An EAD finding aid is available. In addition, a set of 971 MARC21 records is available which provides a detailed description of each individual periodical in this collection. These MARC21 records have been created at the University of Michigan University Library, Harvard College Library, Cornell University Library and The General Libraries of The University of Texas at Austin.
Also available on microfilm (180 reels).
The Archives of the Church in North India Online includes:
• The Archives of the Church in North India: Archival Collection, and
• The Archives of the Church in North India: Monograph Collection
• The Archives of the Church in North India: Archival Collection, and
• The Archives of the Church in North India: Monograph Collection
A collaboration with Yale University, the online version of The Archives of the Church in North India comprises archival and printed material from the Gujarat Diocese of the Church of North India. The archives have been divided into two sections: the archival collection, consisting of meetings, correspondence and reports, and the monograph collection of early printed monographs from mission presses. Title lists and MARC21 records are available.
The Archival collection includes:
- Minutes of meetings, correspondence and other documents of the Irish Presbyterian Mission Council in Gujarat and relevant local committees.
- Annual reports prepared by the Irish Presbyterian Mission Council that describe the achievements of the past year, including information about the financial situation of the IP Mission from 1851 to 1965.
- Annual reports of the Missions’ Orphanage from 1870 till 1958.
This collection includes the online version of the sections:
• Minutes, Correspondence and Miscellaneous Documents
• Reports
This publication came about with support of the Kenneth Scott Latourette Fund, Yale Divinity School Library.
Location of Originals: Gujarat United School of Theology, Ahmedabad, India
For more information, visit brill.com.
The Archival collection includes:
- Minutes of meetings, correspondence and other documents of the Irish Presbyterian Mission Council in Gujarat and relevant local committees.
- Annual reports prepared by the Irish Presbyterian Mission Council that describe the achievements of the past year, including information about the financial situation of the IP Mission from 1851 to 1965.
- Annual reports of the Missions’ Orphanage from 1870 till 1958.
This collection includes the online version of the sections:
• Minutes, Correspondence and Miscellaneous Documents
• Reports
This publication came about with support of the Kenneth Scott Latourette Fund, Yale Divinity School Library.
Location of Originals: Gujarat United School of Theology, Ahmedabad, India
For more information, visit brill.com.
A collaboration with Yale University, the online version of The Archives of the Church in North India comprises archival and printed material from the Gujarat Diocese of the Church of North India. The archives have been divided into two sections: the archival collection, consisting of meetings, correspondence and reports, and the monograph collection of early printed monographs from mission presses. Title lists and MARC21 records are available.
The Monograph collection includes: - Monographs printed by the Irish Presbyterian Mission Press in Surat, India, consisting of 105 volumes. - Monographs printed by other mission presses in India, consisting of 58 volumes. - A selection of monographs printed outside India, mostly in London and Belfast, and identified as relevant for research purposes.
Location of originals: Gujarat United School of Theology, Ahmedabad, India.
This collection includes the online version of the sections: • Monographs Printed by the IP Mission Press in Surat, India • Monographs Printed by Other Mission Presses in India • Miscellaneous Monographs
This publication came about with support of the Kenneth Scott Latourette Fund, Yale Divinity School Library.
For more information, visit https://brill.com/.
The Monograph collection includes: - Monographs printed by the Irish Presbyterian Mission Press in Surat, India, consisting of 105 volumes. - Monographs printed by other mission presses in India, consisting of 58 volumes. - A selection of monographs printed outside India, mostly in London and Belfast, and identified as relevant for research purposes.
Location of originals: Gujarat United School of Theology, Ahmedabad, India.
This collection includes the online version of the sections: • Monographs Printed by the IP Mission Press in Surat, India • Monographs Printed by Other Mission Presses in India • Miscellaneous Monographs
This publication came about with support of the Kenneth Scott Latourette Fund, Yale Divinity School Library.
For more information, visit https://brill.com/.
The Daily Worker Online contains 23,064 pages, from 1922 until 1966, of The Daily Worker, the official mouthpiece of the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA) between 1924 and 1958, and The Worker.
Though The Daily Worker was the official mouthpiece of the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA) between 1924 and 1958, while performing this function, the newspaper represented nevertheless much more than just a tool of political propaganda. Originally, its articles and campaigns were intended to raise working-class awareness in the US and to promote the tenets of socialism there. However, gradually, The Daily Worker started to appeal to a broader audience, not just rank-and-file Communists. Its main target became the victims of the Great Depression, the masses of the unemployed, the dispossessed, and the marginalized minorities packing American metropolises. Its reports covered a wide range of subjects, from policy reforms to labor strikes, from civil rights to housing and urban planning, from foreign policy to sports, literature, and general culture.
Given the breadth of the topics covered by The Daily Worker and the fact that it navigated some of the most transformative years of American democracy and society, including the Progressive Era, the New Deal, WWII, and the Cold War, this newspaper constitutes an excellent resource for the reconstruction and analysis of both US domestic changes and varied foreign entanglements in the first half of the twentieth century. In fact, The Daily Worker was part and parcel of the wider American public debate, not just one of its many radical voices. For many years, its articles reflected the so-called Popular Front culture and spoke to a growing, complex, and multifaceted American left. To do so in an effective way, the newspaper relied on some of the most prominent artists and intellectuals of the era, such as Woody Guthrie, Martha Graham, Lester Rodney, Mike Gold, and many others. As a result, some of The Daily Worker’s campaigns rapidly broke out of the radical realm and entered mainstream public debate. Instances of this, for example, were when the newspaper promoted racial desegregation in professional American sports, when its editors advocated for minimum wages and fair employment conditions, and when its articles contributed to popularizing the war alliance with the USSR.
Even so, The Daily Worker remained largely aligned with a communist perspective on and interpretation of both domestic and international affairs. This is the principal reason, as soon as the Cold War began and the cooperative spirit of the Popular Front disappeared, the paper took a much more orthodox turn, which put it on a collision course with both the emergence of a Cold War consensus among American liberals and, most importantly, with the staunch anti-communism that characterized 1950s America. From that moment onward, the newspaper started to be generally perceived as a destabilizing threat to American democracy. The FBI increased its surveillance of the newspaper’s editors, subscription figures dropped, and communist voices were stigmatized and marginalized. These factors all contributed to the closure of The Daily Worker at the beginning of 1958. After a brief suspension of activities, the CPUSA published a weekend paper called The Worker from 1958 to 1968.
Substantial portions of The Daily Worker Online have been digitized in cooperation with the International Institute of Social History. For a complete list of contents, please see below under the "Downloads" tab.
Though The Daily Worker was the official mouthpiece of the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA) between 1924 and 1958, while performing this function, the newspaper represented nevertheless much more than just a tool of political propaganda. Originally, its articles and campaigns were intended to raise working-class awareness in the US and to promote the tenets of socialism there. However, gradually, The Daily Worker started to appeal to a broader audience, not just rank-and-file Communists. Its main target became the victims of the Great Depression, the masses of the unemployed, the dispossessed, and the marginalized minorities packing American metropolises. Its reports covered a wide range of subjects, from policy reforms to labor strikes, from civil rights to housing and urban planning, from foreign policy to sports, literature, and general culture.
Given the breadth of the topics covered by The Daily Worker and the fact that it navigated some of the most transformative years of American democracy and society, including the Progressive Era, the New Deal, WWII, and the Cold War, this newspaper constitutes an excellent resource for the reconstruction and analysis of both US domestic changes and varied foreign entanglements in the first half of the twentieth century. In fact, The Daily Worker was part and parcel of the wider American public debate, not just one of its many radical voices. For many years, its articles reflected the so-called Popular Front culture and spoke to a growing, complex, and multifaceted American left. To do so in an effective way, the newspaper relied on some of the most prominent artists and intellectuals of the era, such as Woody Guthrie, Martha Graham, Lester Rodney, Mike Gold, and many others. As a result, some of The Daily Worker’s campaigns rapidly broke out of the radical realm and entered mainstream public debate. Instances of this, for example, were when the newspaper promoted racial desegregation in professional American sports, when its editors advocated for minimum wages and fair employment conditions, and when its articles contributed to popularizing the war alliance with the USSR.
Even so, The Daily Worker remained largely aligned with a communist perspective on and interpretation of both domestic and international affairs. This is the principal reason, as soon as the Cold War began and the cooperative spirit of the Popular Front disappeared, the paper took a much more orthodox turn, which put it on a collision course with both the emergence of a Cold War consensus among American liberals and, most importantly, with the staunch anti-communism that characterized 1950s America. From that moment onward, the newspaper started to be generally perceived as a destabilizing threat to American democracy. The FBI increased its surveillance of the newspaper’s editors, subscription figures dropped, and communist voices were stigmatized and marginalized. These factors all contributed to the closure of The Daily Worker at the beginning of 1958. After a brief suspension of activities, the CPUSA published a weekend paper called The Worker from 1958 to 1968.
Substantial portions of The Daily Worker Online have been digitized in cooperation with the International Institute of Social History. For a complete list of contents, please see below under the "Downloads" tab.
Papers of the Dutch-American Fulbright Program
In September 1945, Democratic freshman Senator from Arkansas James William Fulbright launched the idea to organize a worldwide system of academic exchanges. His goal was to improve intercultural relations between the US and other countries through the mutual exchange of knowledge, skills, and projects. Within a year, President Truman signed the Fulbright Act, which allowed 35 foreigners to study in the US and 65 Americans to refine their studies abroad. Since then, the Fulbright Program, coordinated by the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, has expanded worldwide with projects, grants, and funding schemes that have so far seen the participation of more than 370,000 people including Nobel Prize laureates, Pulitzer Prize recipients, and students, researchers, and teachers at all the academic levels.
In 1949, the Fulbright Program was set up in the Netherlands as well. In order to better coordinate academic exchanges between the Netherlands and the US, the two countries formally established a bilateral United States Educational Foundation (USEF) in Amsterdam. Since then, that organization has changed its name twice. In 1972, USEF became the Netherlands America Committee for Educational Exchange (NACEE). NACEE in turn became the Fulbright Center in 2004. The documents collected by the USEF, NACEE, and the Fulbright Center are held by the Roosevelt Institute for American Studies (RIAS) in Middelburg. However, due to privacy regulations and classification, the only part of this collection that is digitally available is its Section G.
Section G contains a large variety of historical sources on the foundation and development of the NACEE and the Fulbright Center, including speeches by and on Senator Fulbright, papers related to an earlier exchange organization, the Netherland-America Foundation, and personal recollections of alumni. Section G is therefore the perfect starting point for any research aimed at discovering the historical development of such a relevant cultural program.
This collection comprises 6,848 scans and is part of Transatlantic Relations Online: Digital Archives of the Roosevelt Institute for American Studies, which is the result of ongoing cooperation between the Roosevelt Institute for American Studies and Brill.
Image caption: Joop van Bilsen / Anefo, Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and prince Bernhard receive the US Senator J. William Fulbright and his wife in Baarn, Utrecht, 1964 (Nationaal Archief, The Hague) - CC0
In 1949, the Fulbright Program was set up in the Netherlands as well. In order to better coordinate academic exchanges between the Netherlands and the US, the two countries formally established a bilateral United States Educational Foundation (USEF) in Amsterdam. Since then, that organization has changed its name twice. In 1972, USEF became the Netherlands America Committee for Educational Exchange (NACEE). NACEE in turn became the Fulbright Center in 2004. The documents collected by the USEF, NACEE, and the Fulbright Center are held by the Roosevelt Institute for American Studies (RIAS) in Middelburg. However, due to privacy regulations and classification, the only part of this collection that is digitally available is its Section G.
Section G contains a large variety of historical sources on the foundation and development of the NACEE and the Fulbright Center, including speeches by and on Senator Fulbright, papers related to an earlier exchange organization, the Netherland-America Foundation, and personal recollections of alumni. Section G is therefore the perfect starting point for any research aimed at discovering the historical development of such a relevant cultural program.
This collection comprises 6,848 scans and is part of Transatlantic Relations Online: Digital Archives of the Roosevelt Institute for American Studies, which is the result of ongoing cooperation between the Roosevelt Institute for American Studies and Brill.
Image caption: Joop van Bilsen / Anefo, Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and prince Bernhard receive the US Senator J. William Fulbright and his wife in Baarn, Utrecht, 1964 (Nationaal Archief, The Hague) - CC0
Government and Church Documents for Sacatepéquez (1587-1991)
Populated predominantly by indígenas (indigenous peoples) who speak Kaqchikel-Maya, Sacatepéquez department offers an excellent window into Latin American and Native American history. Located in the central highlands of Guatemala, it was home to two colonial capitals and is contiguous with the nation’s contemporary capital. Throughout the colonial and national eras, indigenous people farmed to feed themselves and the regions (and capitals) that surrounded them. Through arduous and often corvée labor, they also built much of the infrastructure in their communities and nation. Crucial to Guatemala’s colonial and national development, indígenas were largely discounted and denigrated. Despite such discrimination and disadvantages, many found ways to survive and thrive. Often converging at the nexus of modernization and tradition, the documents in this collection convey the complicated hybrid history of a nation striving to present itself as progressive and civilized in an Atlantic world that seldom associated those qualities with indigeneity. Penned primarily by non-indigenous elites, authorities, and scribes, the documents in this collection explore complex ethnic, racial, class, and gender relations and how they changed over time.
Spanning more than four hundred years, The Guatemala Collection: Government and Church Documents for Sacatepéquez (1587-1991) concentrates primarily on the national era, particularly 1824-1948. The vast majority of the documents—correspondence, annual reports, statistics, letters, litigation—found within The Guatemala Collection are copies from the Archivo General de Centroamérica and the Archivo Histórico Arquidiocesano “Francisco de Paula García Peláez” (formerly known as Archivo Eclesiástico de Guatemala) in Guatemala City. In recent years, the latter has seldom been opened to the public. Colonial documents mainly come from the Archivo General de Indias in Seville, Spain. A few of the documents and transcripts come from the Centro de Investigaciones Regionales de Mesoamérica (CIRMA) in Antigua. In general, the documents are organized by place, theme, and chronology.
The Guatemala Collection comprises ten series. Eight of the series are titled after the department or municipality to which the documents correspond. The remaining two series—Colonial Documents and Secondary Sources—are titled descriptively. Although they also present findings and information concerning Sacatepéquez and its municipalities, for reasons of chronology and the nature of the documents, these series have been set apart from the main collection. The secondary source documents, which were authored primarily by the donor and historian Christopher Lutz, scholar and researcher Héctor Concohá, historian Wendy Kramer, and anthropologist Sheldon Annis, are notes, commentaries, descriptions, indexes, syntheses, and analyses of materials included in the collection itself or from the archives. Across these ten series, the documents of the collection are organized into fifty-seven distinct classifications that include such themes as economy, agriculture, forced labor, complaints, crime, annual reports, natural disasters, municipal affairs, education, elections, military, public works, religion, public health, lands and estates, development, resignations and solicitations, regulations, festivities, and maps. The majority of the documents are labeled by Concohá as to their years and subject matter.
Although Lutz initially was explicit in his research requests, after his exile from Guatemala in 1980, the project took on a life of its own as Concohá continuously widened the parameters of the research. Consequently, The Guatemala Collection houses a rich array of government, church, and civil documents that bear testimony to an indigenous population’s struggle and success with the changing social, economic, political, and religious dynamics of colonial and independent rule.
Image artwork: Caroline Salvin, Dueñas de la puerta de la casa, octubre de 1873 (Dueñas from the house door, October 1873; watercolor)
Spanning more than four hundred years, The Guatemala Collection: Government and Church Documents for Sacatepéquez (1587-1991) concentrates primarily on the national era, particularly 1824-1948. The vast majority of the documents—correspondence, annual reports, statistics, letters, litigation—found within The Guatemala Collection are copies from the Archivo General de Centroamérica and the Archivo Histórico Arquidiocesano “Francisco de Paula García Peláez” (formerly known as Archivo Eclesiástico de Guatemala) in Guatemala City. In recent years, the latter has seldom been opened to the public. Colonial documents mainly come from the Archivo General de Indias in Seville, Spain. A few of the documents and transcripts come from the Centro de Investigaciones Regionales de Mesoamérica (CIRMA) in Antigua. In general, the documents are organized by place, theme, and chronology.
The Guatemala Collection comprises ten series. Eight of the series are titled after the department or municipality to which the documents correspond. The remaining two series—Colonial Documents and Secondary Sources—are titled descriptively. Although they also present findings and information concerning Sacatepéquez and its municipalities, for reasons of chronology and the nature of the documents, these series have been set apart from the main collection. The secondary source documents, which were authored primarily by the donor and historian Christopher Lutz, scholar and researcher Héctor Concohá, historian Wendy Kramer, and anthropologist Sheldon Annis, are notes, commentaries, descriptions, indexes, syntheses, and analyses of materials included in the collection itself or from the archives. Across these ten series, the documents of the collection are organized into fifty-seven distinct classifications that include such themes as economy, agriculture, forced labor, complaints, crime, annual reports, natural disasters, municipal affairs, education, elections, military, public works, religion, public health, lands and estates, development, resignations and solicitations, regulations, festivities, and maps. The majority of the documents are labeled by Concohá as to their years and subject matter.
Although Lutz initially was explicit in his research requests, after his exile from Guatemala in 1980, the project took on a life of its own as Concohá continuously widened the parameters of the research. Consequently, The Guatemala Collection houses a rich array of government, church, and civil documents that bear testimony to an indigenous population’s struggle and success with the changing social, economic, political, and religious dynamics of colonial and independent rule.
Image artwork: Caroline Salvin, Dueñas de la puerta de la casa, octubre de 1873 (Dueñas from the house door, October 1873; watercolor)
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