CRL has received and processed part one of the Archivo General de Centroamérica (Central American Archives, or CAA). These materials are accessible by CRL members (and non-members with user accounts) through the CRL catalog. CRL will acquire parts two and three of the set by the end of the 2012 calendar year.

The complete archive encompasses six million pages of original primary source documents—many of which are the only existing copy—that span more than three centuries from 1519 to 1898. They document Spanish rule in the New World from the founding of the city of Antigua, in Guatemala. The collection documents all aspects of commerce, politics, and development in El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and the Yucatan and Chiapas regions of Mexico. The CAA is a rich resource for Latin American, Central American, and Spanish studies.

Link to CAA record: http://catalog.crl.edu/record=b2172246~S1

The CAA set was selected for purchase by CRL members through a Purchase Proposal Program ballot. Participants noted that these materials would augment CRL’s holdings for a time period and region of growing research interest, but were unlikely to be purchased by individual libraries.

Nominations for the upcoming Purchase Proposal Ballot will be accepted through September 30, 2012. Additional information available at http://www.crl.edu/collections/collection-building/cooperative-resource-development/pp-program