January 6, 1995 Florencia Mallon, President, opened the meeting by introducing herself and asking the others present to do so also. General committee members included Elizabeth Kuznesof, Donna Guy, Lowell Gudmundson, Don Olliff, and Mike Conniff. Also attending: Ann Wightman (96 Program), Vince Peloso (The Americas), John Schwaller, Teresa Meade (Teaching and Teaching Materials Committee), Linda Salvucci (International Scholarly Relations), Don Stevens (ComPAQH), Marshall Eakin (Projects and Publications), and Phil Mueller (H-latam). Sandy Johnson represented the Secretariat and took minutes.

The minutes from the January 1994 meeting were approved as submitted.

The Fall election results were announced. Lyman Johnson was elected Vice President and Ida Altman and Alida Metcalf were elected general committee members. It was suggested that a letter be sent to all committee members and other committee chairpersons who are to attend the general committee meeting, telling them when and where the general committee meeting will be held. This should be done before the end of the semester. A follow-up reminder could be sent at the end of December.

All of the proposed amendments passed. The President will serve a two-year term. A proposed amendment to make The Americas editor an ex officio member of the general committee was inadvertently left off the ballot. It was agreed, however, that The Americas editor would serve at the invitation of the general committee. When other constitutional amendments are put on a ballot to be voted on by the membership at-large, this will be included.

The Borderlands committee now exists, and David Weber has consented to be the Chairman. It was suggested that the secretariat prepare a mailing list to persons who might be interested in joining CLAH.

The membership drive has been very successful. As of December 31, there are now approximately 870 members. The costs per new member recruited were quite low, and the secretariat will continue to do so as time permits. Meanwhile, members who did not pay dues for two years are now removed from the membership list to reduce costs.

The question of raising dues was brought up. Donna Guy suggested that the secretariat calculate the cost of maintaining a member for one year. It was also suggested that perhaps offering subscriptions to various journals along with membership renewal might bring in more members. Mike Conniff and Don Olliff will submit a proposal along these lines to the general committee.

A preliminary financial report was given. Some of the expenses that seem very large were due to several 1993 expenses (including prize awards) were paid in January 1994, as were 1994 awards. Dennis Hamlett, an Auburn accountant, will be doing a full audit of the CLAH books in February. An official treasurer's report will printed in the Spring Newsletter, along with the auditor's statement.

The endowments, deposited in IDS-managed mutual funds, have not earned much interest this year because of poor stock market conditions. It was decided to suspend the Cabrera Awards for one year, since the 1994 awards exceeded earnings. Other unusual expenses included two Scobie awards for $1000. The committee decided to return to the original Scobie award procedure, which was to cover an international travel fare, not to exceed $1000. The Scobie announcement will be revised to reflect this change. The awards and expenses need to be scaled back in order not to deplete the endowment principal.

A Warren Dean Prize in environmental history was approved. It will be awarded every two to three years for the best book or article on the subject. It should not exclude comparative studies. Barbara Weinstein is going to start a fund drive for the prize. She reminded the committee that the Brazilian studies committee session would be devoted to Warren's work.

The committee discussed responsibility for appointments to prize committees. In general, presidents should make the appointments for the period in which they serve, and vice-presidents should make appointments for their own terms. An amendment to the constitution may be needed to further specify the vice president's role.

Donna Guy and Florencia Mallon will revise the CLAH calendar to adjust for moving the annual meeting to January.

Ann Wightman, the 1996 program chair, requested that the program chairman be appointed two years before the program takes place. She presented a partial list of panels that had been submitted and the committee agreed to accept them for submission to the AHA program committee.

Phil Mueller noted that the H-LATAM Gopher is available and carries CLAH Newsletters and the constitution/bylaws. It has also been used to recruit members for CLAH.

The regional committee elections need to be more democratic in the future. The Secretariat can issue a call for nominations to regional committee members and can help with the printing,mailing, and counting of ballots. There was some discussion of whether a regular term for officers would help promote sharing responsibility among members.

Teresa Meade, of the Teaching and Teaching Materials Committee, reported that H-LATAM helps improve teaching by allowing people to share ideas, sources, and techniques on e-mail. The committee has commissioned articles, on video in the classroom and the use of adjunct texts, for regular columns in the Newsletter. They held a panel on "Teaching the Survey Course," which 30 people attended.

Marshall Eakin, of the Projects and Publications Committee, reported that he and Teresa Meade are working on an anthology of articles aimed at advanced undergraduates and graduate students, on the development of the field of Latin American history. This would be a successor to Howard Cline's 2 volume work. Donna Guy suggested revising the Lombardi's Historical Atlas because it brought in considerable revenue from royalties. It would need revised maps. Florencia Mallon said she could help consult with the University of Wisconsin regarding these projects.

Linda Salvucci reported that the Int'l Scholarly Relations Committee will serve as a clearinghouse for information and lobbying and asked about the extent to which it can operate on its own in pursuing goals. Committee member Ken Andrien will draft a letter, on behalf of CLAH, expressing concern about plans to evict the National Archives of Ecuador from its current location. The committee may seek to establish a relationship with MAPFRE, a Spanish foundation interested in preserving documents. Salvucci pointed out that the AHA was not currently engaged in much activity regarding scholarly relations with Latin America, so that there should be plenty for CLAH to do. She solicited suggestions for future projects.

The meeting adjourned at 9:30 am.

CLAH would like to thank the following persons for their generous donations to several of the endowment funds.

General Endowment Fund - Charles Hale

Lewis Hanke Fund - Richard Graham, Jane Rausch, Jody Hanke Schwarz

Warren Dean Fund - Donna Guy, Elinor Melville, Barbara Weinstein

Anyone wishing to make a contribution should make their check out to The Conference on Latin American History and specify the fund that you are contributing to. Please mail to:

CLAH Secretariat

Institute for Latin American Studies

508 Lowder Bldg.

Auburn University , AL 36849-5258

POPULATION AND QUANTITATIVE HISTORY COMMITTEE (ComPAQH)

Approximately twenty Latin Americanists attended the annual meeting of ComPAQH. During the brief business portion of the meeting the committee chair, Donald Stevens (Drexel University), reported on the continuing activities of the committee. Robert McCaa (University of Minnesota) editor of The Latin American Population History Bulletin has secured funding for three years from the University of Minnesota; Richard Garner (Penn State),editor of The Latin American Economic History Newsletter, expects to have his next edition ready soon, and to distribute it principally via the Internet, though paper copies will still be sent to some subscribers. Questions of copyright still beset Garner's plan to set up a data bank. The committee also discussed the possibility of coordinating and distributing problem sets for use in teaching Latin American economic history.

The committee's invited speaker, Richard Salvucci (Trinity University), entitled his remarks "I Don't Like What You're Saying and I Don't Like The Way You Say It: Why Almost No One Likes Quantitative History and Why I Frankly Don't Give A Damn." Salvucci began with a review of trends in quantification in Latin American history which he measured as the average annual number of tables in articles in the HAHR at five year intervals and by counting the number of quantitative monographs that appeared annually. Prior to the early 1970s, the HAHR published few articles with tables. The average number was well below one per article and peaked at 0.59 in 1943. During the early 1970s there was an explosion of tables in articles, an average of 2.35. Although the average number of tables in articles and quantitative monographs per year fell in the late 1970s and early 1980s, both indexes picked up in the late 1980s and remain at historically high levels. Salvucci concluded that rather than disappearing after an initial explosion, quantitative methods have become a routine part of Latin American history.

Having established that quantitative research is not disappearing, Salvucci discussed some of the reasons why its critics perhaps wish it would. These were: (1) that quantitative research is boring, (2) that it is obscure, (3)that it is impersonal; (4) that the data is all nonsense, and (5) that it is politically retrograde. After refuting these objections with an astute analysis enlivened by colorful anecdotes, Salvucci concluded that neither critics nor practitioners of this approach should regard quantitative research as definitive, objective, or value-free. He affirmed his conviction that quantification is an appropriate and useful approach to historical study. A genial discussion followed.

This review continues the regular column on teaching-related issues, sponsored by the CLAH Teaching Materials Committee.

Essays on Latin American Films

This essay on films and videos continues the regular column on teaching-related issues, sponsored by the CLAH Teaching Materials Committee.

The increase in the number and variety of films and videos for use in the classroom has greatly enhanced the teaching of Latin American history. The availability of videos through CD ROM has even greater potential. Space permits mention of only a handful of films which members have used with success in stimulating class discussion and portraying those aspects of Latin American culture best portrayed visually. This essay excludes Mexico, which merits an essay on its own.

Many of the current films on Central America reflect the themes of guerrilla warfare and indigenous cultures. Refugees in Our Backyard (Icarus) examines the violence and poverty causing flight, as well as public reaction to the entrance of undocumented aliens in the United States. Maria's Story (Film makers Library) demonstrates daily adversity on a personal level by following the mother of three who doubles as a leader of the country's guerrilla movement. Filmed on site, it shows Maria's commitment to social change in the face of rural poverty. Icarus Films offers A Question of Conscience which treats the highly publicized and shocking murder of 6 Jesuit priests, their cook and her daughter, in 1989, as well as El Salvador The Seeds of Liberty which deals with the 1980 murder of three nuns and lay missionary, Jean Donovan. The feature film, Romero, starring Raul Julia, shows how reality transformed this country pastor into a defender of El Salvador's oppressed, leading to his martyrdom.

Contemporary life in a Guatemalan Mayan village is documented in the two films from Icarus: Todos Santos Cuchumatan: Report from a Guatemalan Village (before the 1980s violence) and Todods Santos: The Survivors (how the violence changed the village and led to the flight to Guatemala City and Mexico). Both films were Blue Ribbon Winners at the American Film Festival in 1983 and 1990 respectively. On this same theme is Rigoberta Menchu: Broken Silence. This new release from Films for the Humanities and Sciences works well when coordinated with I, Rigoberta Menchu, ed. Elisabeth Burgos-Debray.

Films on Caribbean countries are more difficult to locate than for the rest of Latin America, with the exception of Cuba. Particularly effective is Cuba--In the Shadow of Doubt (Film makers Library) an historical treatment of Castro's rise to power and dominance. It is one of the few films shot on location at La Plata. Also useful is the two part documentary filmed on site: Cuba: The People. Part I aired in 1974 while Part II covers events into the 1980s. With the increasing attention on Haiti one can hope for more films on that country. Two useful ones are Bitter Cane depicting the poverty, class, turmoil and economic difficulties (The Cinema Guild) and Voodoo and the Church in Haiti. The latter is available from the University of California Extension which provides numerous films with an anthropological perspective.

A number of recent films focus on the violence of guerrilla movements and drug mafia. Rodrigo D: No Futuro is an excellent Colombian film dealing with the life of a sicario or assigned killer. Lines of Blood The Drug War in Colombia (Film makers Library) shows the impact of cocaine traffic on political, social, and economic life in Colombia and criticizes U.S. methods used to halt the drug traffic. An excellent film on Peru's Sendero Luminoso is La boca del lobo/The Lion's Den, (Facets Videos in Chicago). Fire in the Andes (Icarus) also depicts the political violence of the Shining Path, particularly in the villages.

An increasing number of films are available on daily life in the Andean countries. Alpaca Breeders of Chimboya focusses on a small Andean village marketing alpaca fleece and Icemen of Chimborazo shows Indian peasant ice cutters working in the glaciers for $4.00 a week to supply ice to a nearby market town. Both are available through Icarus. Also of interest is I Spent My Life in the Mines, an autobiography of a Bolivian miner. For the urban scene, see Growing Up in the South, a documentary of street kids in Cusco, Peru, and Villa El Salvador: A Desert Dream, an optimistic portrayal of a squatter settlement in Lima. The last three films are available from Cinema Guild.

Military governments and the desaparecidos in Argentina and Chile have attracted many film makers. The Official Story poignantly relates that grim period in Argentina. Veronico Cruz, with stunning photography, details the life of a small boy growing up in Salta during the years of military repression just prior to the Malvinas War. It also demonstrates the problems teachers face in remote parts of Latin America (Facets). Also useful is Funny Dirty Little War (Facets), a black comedy about leftists and Peronists battling in a provincial town at the onset of the Dirty War. For a good documentary on Argentinean's conflict with Britain, try Battle for the Falklands (Facets). General Pinocet is the focus of Chile: Hasta Cuando? with flashbacks to 1973 and the violence which followed the coup (Film makers Library). In Don't Threaten Me (Icarus) Chilean film maker Juan Andres Racz documents the years 1988 to 1990 and the return to democracy. On the lighter side is El Abrazo which puts the tango in historical context with some of the finest tango artists (Films for the Humanities). Also entertaining is Tango Bar (Facets) with Raul Julia.

Films on Brazil emphasize a variety of themes. Bye Bye Brasil is a wonderful satire on city slickers who try to exploit "backwards" rural folk and indigenous people, only to have the tables turned. Pixote is a gripping, accurate film about the life and death of street children. Hour of the Star features a socially deprived girl from the Northeast trying to make a life for herself in Rio. The Story of Fausta is particularly good in its portrayal of contemporary life in the favela. The above are available through Facets Video. The Cinema Guild offers several films on many of these same themes: Favelas, depicts the slums of Sao Paulo and The Children's War chronicles the plight of homeless children.

Brazil's Amazon and frontier have fascinated U.S. film makers. A few years ago, PBS Frontline sponsored a five part series on the Amazon, The Decade of Destruction, written by Adrian Cowell and Michael Kirk and directed by Cowell. An excellent documentary on road building in Rondonia and the role of the World Bank is Banking on Disaster (Bullfrog Films). This latter film has good footage on Chico Mendez, the focus of a PBS Frontline special, Murder in the Amazon. Film makers Library offers Contact: The Yanomami Indians of Brazil, a documentary of the once isolated tribe. Bahia: Africa in the Americas treats the rich culture of Brazil's northeast while Hail Umbanda depicts Brazil's growing religion with roots in Catholicism, and African and Native American religions (U. of California).

The changing status of women in developing countries has attracted the attention of several film companies, particularly women's transition from rural to urban life. One of the leaders in this field, with a large number of titles, is Women Make Movies. For a complete listing on selections for Latin America, write to Women Make Movies, Inc. 462 Broadway, Suite 500, NY, NY 10013.

Two Cuban films show the change in gender relations over time: Humberto's Sola's classic Lucia (1969) and Pastor Vega's Retrato de Teresa (1979). Lucia is particularly good for its perspective on women in three periods of Cuban history (Independence, the Machado years, and the coming of Castro in 1959). A fine example of women in both urban and rural settings is Double Day (the Cinema Guild) which includes Domitila Barrios de Chungara as a spokesperson for Andean women in the mines. Using her book LET ME SPEAK! adds to a student's understanding of the issues. Simplemente Jenny (The Cinema Guild) is a compelling film of the trauma that young women suffer in their efforts to survive. Although an older film, the issues are current.

Feature films are always popular with students and can effectively convey important themes. Here are a few favorites in addition to those interspersed above. El Norte, depicts the flight of Guatemalans to California; The Mission (incredibly beautiful for its photography and sound track) dramatizes the Jesuit entrance and expulsion in Paraguay; Black Orpheus places the myth within the context of life in a Brazilian favela at carnival time; Gabriela (Sonya Braga, Marcello Mastroianni) a bawdy film comedy based on Jorge Amado's novel and filmed in the coastal town of Paragi. Several films focus on military governments and repression: Kiss of the Spider Woman based on Manuel Pluig's novel takes place in a prison cell someplace in Latin America; Missing treats U.S. intervention in the Chilean coup of 1973; and State of Siege, views Uruguay in the repressive 1970s. For excellent examples of magical realism see Erendira, based on a short story by Gabriel Garcia Marquez in the Colombian backcountry; and Dona Flor and her Two Husbands, based on a novel by Jorge Amado and providing a hilarious commentary on bourgeois mores in Brazil.

In the last few years, several television series have focused on Latin America. The PBS ten part Americas is offered as a college credit telecourse. But if one cannot justify showing all ten episodes, one can choose those which are most appropriate to the course. Program 4, Mirrors of the Heart, is especially good in explaining ethnic and racial lines which are often difficult to convey in lecture. The five-part series by Films for the Humanities and Sciences, Columbus and the Age of Discovery is excellent and can be used selectively depending on the nature of the course. Part 4, The Columbian Exchange, works well and may be used in conjunction with Alfred Crosby's The Columbian Exchange. The Buried Mirror, a five-part series hosted by Carlos Fuentes, covers the cultural differences in the Hispanic world. These films can be used individually land are available from Insight Media. They may be supplemented by the beautifully illustrated monography by Carlos Fuentes, The Buried Mirror: Reflections on Spain and the New World (Houghton Mifflin, 1992). National Geographic and Frontline specials on PBS have provided excellent programs which may be purchased for classroom use.

This essay does not attempt to categorize films, but is an effort to indicate what is available and list a few of the favorites of professors and students. The inclusion of documentaries, feature films, foreign and domestic films demonstrates the need for a catalog of films appropriate for use in Latin American classes. Films could be annotated and cross referenced giving information on cost, themes, chronological period, length, format, supplier, etc. Perhaps this essay will generate interest in this larger project or at a minimum encourage an exchange of film titles over the internet.

Approximately thirty people attended the 1995 meeting of the Chile-Rio de la Plata Studies Committee in which the topic was Populism in Comparative Perspective. It was hoped that the session would provoke discussion on the nature of populism. There were two presentations. The first by Michael Monteon(University of California, San Diego) compared the populist experiences in Mexico and Chile in the 1930s and 1940s. Monteon argued that a real parallel exists between the two countries. In both countries populism began in the wake of the depression, involved redistributive politics, regulated the work place and did not permit real incorporation of workers into the political system. He argued that in both countries populist front rhetoric was important but many of the real gains were made by the middle class through the expansion of the bureaucracy. Monteon also gave a detailed examination of the key characteristics of populism in each country.

The other presentation, by Mariano B. Plotkin (Harvard University), discussed problems with how the concept of populism has been used and how Peronism can be discussed within that framework. Plotkin observed that the term was first used in Latin America by intellectuals to describe movements of workers who did not follow the path of European workers. The existing definitions, whether derived from Torcuato Di Tella or Ernest Laclau, when compared to the actual nature of Peronism do not seem to work. Plotkin argued that instead of a definition, a listing of characteristics ought to be made and that more attention should be focused on Laclau's concept of political imagery. For example, how Peron attempted to reformulate the political culture of Argentina.

The two papers provoked a lively discussion of what populism is and how we ought to define it from many in the audience. There was little consensus beyond the existence of something that can be labeled populism.

In addition, the attendees, at the urging of CLAH president Donna Guy, adopted the idea of having the secretary elected by a mail ballot sent by the CLAH Secretariat to all the members of the Committee. The hope was that this would encourage greater interest in the Committee.

Joel Horowitz, Saint Bonaventure University

GRAN COLOMBIAN COMMITTEE

The Gran Colombianista regional session was held on Saturday, January 7 and consisted of three papers broadly related to the theme, "Discourse Approaches to Gran Colombian History". The session attracted around 25 people, including several new faces. The audience served as commenters/questioners following the presentations.

David Sowell (Juniata College) spoke on "Medical Systems and Social Conflict: Healing, Ideology, and Power in the Nineteenth-Century Andes." By examining the career of Miguel Perdomo Neira, a "traveling empiric" (lay physician) in highland Ecuador and Colombia during the 1870s. Sowell pursues a dual project of "locating medical ideologies" during the transitional nineteenth century in Latin America and a more general social-historical inquiry into popular and elite understandings of faith, progress, and the intersections of civil society and politics. Both in the Bogotá of the Radical Olympus and the Quito of Garcia Moreno. Perdomo's healing exploits provoked widespread debate (and judicial proceedings...much of the traveling empiric's traveling was less than voluntary). Audience comments focused on possible source materials and broader Latin American comparisons.

Arlene Diaz (University of Minnesota) spoke on "Women, Order, and Progress in Guzman Blanco's Venezuela, 1870-1888." Using material from the official La Opinion Nacional, Diaz suggests that not only did the Guzman Blanco regime have a position on women's roles and representations, but that its positions was integral to its liberal-positivist project for Venezuela generally. Women were, in brief, to be "an important pillar of the social edifice," essential to the de-barbarianization on Venezuelan society. Diaz notes, however, that the 1873 Civil Code represented little progress in women's rights. Comments focused on the possible impact of social groups (most obviously, women) on regime discourse, and on the ever-slippery relationship between discourse and deed.

Medofilo Medina (Universidad Nacional de Colombia) spoke on "Un politico de la costa colombiana: Saul Charris de la Hoz." Medina's current project is notable both for its theme--the nexus between local and national politics in 20th century Colombia--and for its oral history/testimonio methodology. The career of Charris, a life-long Liberal politician (with gaitanista and anapists digressions), illustrates many of the modalities of recruitment into the party system which give Colombian política pueblerina its character. Charris eschewed baldfaced costeño clientelism in favor of more subtle appeals, which makes him an especially rich historical case. Comments focused on the tensions of the testimonio method, such as, the balance between trusting interlocutor and objective investigator, and the difficulty of finding corroborative materials. One noteworthy detail is that Prof. Medina was able to attend thanks to financial support from Colciencias and the U. Nacional, a heartening show of support for historical research in Colombia, and its diffusion worldwide.

Richard Stoller, Dickinson College

MEXICAN STUDIES COMMITTEE

The Mexican Studies Committee session chaired by Susan M. Deeds (Northern Arizona University) and attended by 50 people, gave lively notice of the high quality and inventiveness of professional historians entering the field. In a roundtable discussion on "The National Period in Mexican History: Theory and Method in Dissertation research of the Post-Modern (But Not Post-Revolutionary) Present," seven scholars, who have recently completed Ph.D.'s or are nearly finished, addressed the current direction of modern Mexican historiography. Brief sketches of their projects and heuristic frameworks revealed ways in which they have been influenced by recent theoretical and comparative approaches to study of the modern nation-state. A shared concern for analysis of hegemony and resistance is evident in the following outline of presenters and topics: Cristina Rivera-Garza (University of Houston) on attempted interventions of the modernizing state (1867-1930) in areas of public welfare, public health and family relations; Jeffrey Pilcher (The Citadel) on how urban, middle-class Mexican women influenced the 20th-century creation of Mexican national identity through a corn-based cuisine; Anne Rubenstein (Chapman University) on the relationship between the state, conservatives, comic books and cultural hegemony, 1934-1976; Eric Zolov (University of Chicago) on how the history of rock and roll in Mexico (1955-75) contributes to an understanding of national and transnational cultural production and representation; John Sherman (Wright State University) on the tensions between right-wing and revolutionary forces within the political culture of the 30s; Blen Kuecker (Rutgers University) on the articulation of local , national and global forces in transforming space (encompassing not only land tenure and use, but also social, political and cultural patterns) in oil-producing and northeastern Veracruz, 1870-1920; and Patrick McNamara (University of Wisconsin) on the evolution of an indigenous nationalism in the Sierra Zapoteca, 1867-1940, which emphasized local political autonomy, economic independence, and cultural militancy. the discussion that followed focused on several common themes of this new research, among them: the tendency to de-center the Revolution's place in Mexican history; the influence of sub-altern studies ad other theoretical approaches which examine hegemonic processes from both the top down and the bottom up; and the continued contestation across Porfirian, revolutionary and post-revolutionary time of competing visions at the most basic tier (i.e., local, individual, family, or community) and at the national level. The current Mexican regime is unquestionably post-revolutionary, but its counterhegemonic transcript is no longer so hidden.

Susan M. Deeds, Northern Arizona University

INSIDERS AND OUTSIDERS: TRANSNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES ON FOREIGN INFLUENCE IN LATIN AMERICA

Recent concern with the intersections of culture and political economy, historical agency, and the lived complexity of social and political life are producing new questions about the nature and outcomes of foreign-local encounters. Turning away from dichotomous structural models that see only power and resistance, or exploiters and victims, we are beginning to attend to the multiplicity of voices, perspectives, and meanings generated in intercultural contexts and to explore the variety of interactions, tensions, negotiations and accommodations that occurred. This panel served up a healthy portion of new research on foreign-local encounters.

William Shell (Murray State University) began the session with a paper on "Integral Outsiders: The North American Colony in Porfirian Mexico." Shell challenged the audience to rethink facile juxtapositions of Latin American "insiders" and "foreign outsiders", of "self" and "other". Drawing upon his doctoral research on the political, economic, and cultural relations of the U.S. colony in Mexico City at the turn of the century, he argued compellingly that as Mexicans were "Americanized", so too were Americans "Mexicanized". In the process, they became "integral outsiders", whose identities and interests mirrored those of their Mexican counterparts and frequently set them at odds with Washington's geopolitics. Shell pointed out that, on occasion, even U.S. Ambassador David Thompson served as a virtual minister without portfolio to Mexican President Porfirio Díaz. In this capacity the ambassador adeptly manipulated Washington to help suppress anti-Díaz movements in the United States and also played a key role in the orchestration of the heralded Creelman interview, which ironically triggered the succession crisis that toppled the Díaz regime.

In "Costa Rican Encounters with Rockefeller Public Health (1914-1921)," Steven Palmer (Université de Montréal) explored how Costa Rican positivist reformers, many of them staunch anti-imperialists, worked through the Rockefeller Foundation's anti-hookworm program to overcome elite resistance to the implementation of locally-formulated, interventionist social policies. Often it is argued that foreign intrusion diminishes the ability of Latin American social groups and states to take autonomous measures toward self-determined ends. Palmer suggested that it is important to focus not only on what foreign organizations do, but also on how they are used by locals in their often pivotal struggles with each other. In Costa Rica, the presence of the Rockefeller Foundation indirectly contributed to the strengthening of the state in the 1920s.

In "Living in Macondo: Economy and Culture in a United Fruit Banana Enclave, 1880-1930," Catherine LeGrand (McGill University), questioned the image of the foreign enclave as a blank slate suddenly transformed by the "penetration of capitalism" in the guise of a powerful foreign company. She stressed that locals were actors too, with their own economic strategies, politics, interpretations, and memories, and argued that, in order to function, the foreign company had to adapt to the local context. She explored how the earlier history of the Santa Marta banana region in Colombia influenced the evolution of land tenure and social organization during the United Fruit Company period; the multiple links by which people in the zone connected themselves to the outside world; and cultural expressions and meanings that emerged from the interactions of locals and foreigners. Remarking that different sub-regions within foreign enclaves may follow divergent historical trajectories, she also sought to explain the emergence of a subculture of resistance to the United Fruit Company centered on the town of Ciénaga, site of the banana massacre of 1928 portrayed in One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Discussant Louis A.Pérez, Jr. (University of North Carolina) noted that Latin Americans were not passive recipients of new values, institutions and techniques. Central to the selective, pragmatic appropriation of new modalities was the expectation that they would serve local interests. Pérez emphasized the unpredictability of the outcomes of local-foreign interactions, and he questioned how to talk about the foreign presence and "hegemony", "influence", "community", "identity" and "national integration". He suggested that foreign influence may be most deeply felt through the appropriation of alternative normative definitions of reality, that is, alternative options and possibilities derived from North American sources which become readily available and perceived as "normal" and "everyday". He pointed to the centrality of this capacity to make what is foreign seem national, indeed even natural. Once naturalized, the "foreign" can serve as a means to strengthen national integration or as a source of vulnerability and the loss of national identity.

A Lively discussion followed the discussant's remarks. The session was attended by approximately 35 people.

Catherine LeGrand, McGill University

RANCHING LABOR AND THE ENVIRONMENT

The "Ranching Labor and the Environment in the Americas: A Comparative Perspective" session met as scheduled, with all participants present excepting commentator Manuel Machado Jr., who faxed his comments to the chair. Attendance at the session, considering its time-slot on Thursday evening, was exceptional.Approximately twenty-five audience members received all the papers warmly, and there was a lively discussion following the comments.

Elinor Melville's paper, "Adoption of Ranching by Indians in Sixteenth-Century Mexico," focused on the adoption of ranching by the Otomi people of central Mexico. Their preference for sheep over cattle allowed them to adopt the Spanish livestock without altering their land-use patterns. Until the end of the sixteenth-century they also managed to maintain control over considerable amounts of grazing lands despite Spanish encroachments. As grazing altered the landscape, however, brush and mesquite replaced the original grasses and sheep declined in favor of cattle. The Otomi did not make the switch, and as the seventeenth century progressed became increasingly isolated.

Warren Elofson focused his paper, "Adapting to the Frontier Environment: Labor on Ranches and Farms in the Foothills of Alberta, Canada,1881-1914," on the transformation of cattle raising operations in southern Alberta from pure ranching to mixed farming. According to Elofson the first cattlemen to enter the region believed it ideally suited for pure ranching,that is, reliance on open-range grazing, but as the environmental conditions of the region became obvious--extremely long and often harsh winters--ranchers started to put up winter stocks of feed. Soon they were planting grain and vegetables and raising barnyard animals on a commercial basis.Consequently, farm hands replaced cowboys and ranches became farms, although the former label continued to be applied to these enterprises.

Robert Wilcox rounded out the session with a paper on "Ranching on the Brazilian Frontier: Environment and Cowboys in Mato Grosso, 1870-1940." As in the case of the other two papers, this one too gave critical attention to the role of the environment in shaping livestock practices. The wetlands ranching practiced in this part of Brazil required cowboys to employ canoes during the rainy season to move cattle to higher ground, made barbed wire impractical because it impeded cattle movement away from flooding, and required ranchers to have considerable knowledge of climatic conditions in order to succeed. The introduction of Zebu cattle and scientific breeding practices were long delayed in the region because market forces did not provide sufficient pressure for such innovations until well into the twentieth century.

Session chair Jesus de la Teja then read the comments submitted by Manuel Machado, who was unable to attend because of budgetary restraints.Machado found the papers taking the history of ranching in new and very different directions from what was of interest when he started in the field decades ago. He too noted the importance of environmental factors in this new ranching history. He noted, however, that the papers tended not to take note of the work of earlier historians in the field and that they seemed too narrowly focused.

Audience comments were favorable to the papers. One audience member, reference to the comments, noted that only through the kind of primary-source research on such local subjects, will broader more synthetic studies be possible in the future. The session also produced discussion on the possibility of putting together an anthology of studies on pastoral economies in the Americas.

Jesus F. de la Teja, chair

WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES GENDER MAKE

The three papers and two commentaries presented at this session initiated a dialogue on gendered approaches to 20th century politics and policies. The contributions demonstrated how the state, political parties, and political leaders have consciously implemented policies which were directed towards women and/or families to mobilize new societal elements.

Professor May Kay Vaughan (University of Illinois at Chicago) presented a paper co-authored with Professor Heather Fowler-Salamini (Bradley University) on gender in agrarian politics of the Mexican Revolution. Challenging the notion that agrarian politics following the Mexican Revolution of 1910 were based exclusively upon static masculine patron-client relationships, Vaughan and Fowler-Salamini argued that an examination of agrarian politics and policies in the 1920s and 1930s displayed a new emphasis on mobilizing rural women into at least a partial form of national citizenship. During the 20s and 30s first populist agrarian leaders and then state policy makers attempted to reshape agrarian policies stressing the inclusion of women in the mobilization of rural families into popular organizations and a modernizing agrarian sector. While some of these policies were embraced, others were resisted by agrarian communities before the 1940s. A gendered approach to agrarian politics suggests a need to reassess the importance of the traditional political (and highly masculine) boundary of 1940, which does not take into account the continuing socioeconomic transformations in the countryside.

Sandra McGee Deutsch (University of Texas-El Paso) questioned the vision of the extreme right in the ABC countries adhering to an inflexible gendered ideology or male-centered political agenda during the 1930s. She discussed how the study of gender highlights the extreme right's adaptability, ideological ambiguity, and the disagreement among such movements on this issue. The Chilean and Brazilian extreme right movements changed their ideas and practices on female participation in politics in response to perceived political openings. On the other hand, Argentine nationalists displayed less interest in participating in politics. Finally, McGee Deutsch delineated the gender component of the extreme right's ideology. Appropriating the feminist label from the left, they argued their movements offered a radical approach to restoring women's exalted position in the household and ensuring that men respected their role.

Neicy Zeller and Margaret Power of the (University of Illinois at Chicago) presented their research findings on women and conservative politics in the Dominican Republic and Chile between 1961-78. Zeller analyzed the gendered discourse of Joaquín Balaquer in his peace and conciliation campaign, where women were portrayed as the mothers and guardians of the nation. As president, Balaquer implemented programs designed to elevate women to positions within the bureaucracy and to integrate them into his state-sponsored philanthropic societies. In her study of right-wing politics in the 1970 Chilean presidential campaign, Powers showed how the concept of the fatherland was identified with the home. Just as in the 1930s, the Chilean right saw the female vote and women's participation in conservative politics as key to its political success.

The two commentarists, Asunción Lavrín (Howard University) and Joel Wolfe (Williams College) both suggested that we must work towards the study of gendered politics from the perspective of a female protagonist. Lavrín wondered whether the constructions of femininity, motherhood, and virtues of womanhood in the 1930s were still hindering effective change in women's roles in politics. A discussion followed. The session was attended by approximately 40 persons.

CALL FOR PAPERS FOR THE 1997 AHA AND CLAH MEETING IN NEW YORK CITY. Please send proposals for complete sessions and individual presentations with the vitae of panelists and presenters to the 1997 CLAH Program Committee. Proposals must be received by September 15 to be considered for CLAH-AHA co-sponsorship. The deadline for CLAH only panels is December 1. Send suggestions and proposals to any member of the program committee:

Professor Joan Meznar Professor Thomas L. Benjamin

Department of History Department of History

U. of South Carolina Central Michigan University

Columbia, SC 29208 Mount Pleasant, MI 48859

off: (803) 777-5940 off: (517) 774-3454

res: (803) 736-9056 res: (517) 773-1390

Professor Linda A. Curcio-Nagy Professor William H. Beezley

Department of History Department of History

University of Nevada TCU

Reno, Nevada 89557 Fort Worth, TX 76129

off: (702) 784-4079 off: (817) 921-7288

res: (702) 825-4772 res: (817) 924-9334

WARREN DEAN PRIZE CLAH announces the establishment of a Warren Dean Prize which recognizes the book or article judged to be the most significant work on the environmental history of Latin America published in English during the previous two years. Publications by scholars other than historians will be considered as long as the work has substantial historical content. Similarly, comparative works (e.g., on the environmental history of the Americas) will be eligible as long as they include a substantial amount of material on Latin America. the prize committee that judges the entries will also be responsible for judging whether submissions qualify for the prize. The winner will receive a cash prize of $500.00, funds permitting. Contributions can be made to the fund by sending a check specifying the donation to the Warren Dean Prize Fund to the CLAH Secretariat.

THE LATIN AMERICAN MICROFORM PROJECT (LAMP) was formed in 1975 in order to preserve unique, scarce, bulky, or expensive Latin Americanist research resources of scholarly value. Its membership now stands at 35 libraries, all located within North America. Like a number of area studies microform projects for other parts of the world, LAMP is administered through the Chicago-based Center for Research Libraries.

LAMP's efforts have focused on the original filming of endangered research materials. A significant number of its projects have been carried forth in cooperation with Latin American

repositories, and its current activities are focusing ever more directly on primary source materials. Brazilian documents, annual ministerial reports from the entire region, and Haitian imprints comprise particular strengths. LAMP relies on member dues for its ongoing income of about $20,000 per year; grant funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities launched the ministerial memorials project, and the Project is currently engaged in an effort--funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation--to digitize a substantial body of Brazilian documents already on microfilm.

Many of LAMP's holdings are fully cataloged and available via the Center for Research Libraries' online catalog. Materials that are not yet cataloged are described in lists of Project holdings available from the Microform Projects and Preservation Coordinator at the Center for Research Libraries (6050 South Kenwood Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637). Project materials can be lent to eligible borrowers through interlibrary loan. CRL also sells service microfilm copies of titles for which it holds a printing negative and upon which there are no copyright restrictions.

Membership in LAMP is open to any institution maintaining a library. Prospective members participate in filming decisions, and are expected to pay one-time "buy-in" fees as well as annual membership dues. Additional information is available from either the current Project Chair (Dan Hazen, Librarian for Latin America, Spain, and Portugal, Harvard College Library, Cambridge, MA 02138) or the Microform Projects and Preservation Coordinator at the Center for Research Libraries.

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ETHNIC IDENTITY AND RACE RELATIONS IN LATIN AMERICA. SALVADOR, BAHIA, BRAZIL, 4-7 JANUARY 1996

Presentation: The Federal U. of Bahia invites scholars from Latin American countries and other countries to an International Conference on race relations and ethnic identity in Latin America to be held in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, from 4 to 7 January 1996. The conference will bring together sociologists, anthropologists, historians, latin americanists and sociolinguists. Specialists in other disciplines are welcome. A special effort will be made to invite scholars from Latin American countries.

Its geographic focus is Latin America and the Caribbean, including the non-Spanish or non-Portuguese speaking countries. Specialists from different countries of the region on African-American populations, native Americans and descendants of immigrants will be encouraged to debate together. Particular attention will be given to the following issues, within an historical perspective and as to more recent trends: 1) mestizaje, creolisation and syncretism; 2) the terminology of ethnic identity and colour; 3) negotiation and resistance; 4) state, racism and public policies; 5) ethnic identity and colour in the labour market, in education, in relationship with poverty and social mobility; 6) slave trade, migrations and transnational communities (the diasporas); 7) comparative studies (comparing, e.g., racial systems in different countries, the situation of black people in two or more countries or different ethnic groups, such as indians and blacks); 8) ethnic identity and religion; 9) modernity, globalization and ethnic identity. Other themes and workshops can be suggested in the enrolment form.

Please write to for further information: Organization Committee : Jocelio Teles dos Santos, Edwin Reesink, Maria Rosario Carvalho and Livio Sansone. Graduate Program in Sociology and Anthropology, Universidade Federal da Bahia a Estrada de Sao Lazaro 197, Federacao. Cep: 40210-730. Salvador Bahia, Brazil phone and fax 55 (71) 235-4635 e-mail: Sansone@ufba.br

AMERICAN FOLKLORE SOCIETY will hold its annual meeting at the Lafayette Hilton in Lafayette, LA on October 12-15, 1995. The 1995 Program Committee encourages proposals for panels to individual aspects papers on all aspects of folklore, especially those that address this year's special theme, "The Creolization of Cultures. The term CREOLE is most often associated with the Caribbean and its "northern tip," Louisiana. Program Committee Co-Chairs: Barry Jean Ancelet and Marsha Gaudett Mail Address: Department of Modern Languages, University of Southwestern Louisiana, Lafayette, LA 70504 EMAIL: folklore@usl.edu DEADLINE: Submission must be postmarked ON OR BEFORE APRIL 15! We had decided as a section that we would try to promote discussion on HAITI - and this year's meeting theme couldn't fit better with that theme. Please encourage those who work on some aspect of expressive culture in HAITI to contact me at this email address: <owner-follac@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu. The conventional address is: 1505 Rabb Road, Austin, TX 78704 (512) 444-3990. Emily Socolov, Section Convener

CARIBBEAN STUDIES ASSOCIATION 20TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE will be held in Willemstad, Curaço, Netherlands Antilles on May 23-26, 1995. The 1995 conference aims at bringing together many different sectors involved in institutional development. The objective is to foster a sharing of ideas and information at this crucial stage of Caribbean institutional development. For more information, contact: Dr. Rupert Silberie, Faculty of Social and Economic Studies, University of the Netherlands Antilles, Curçao, Neth. Ant.; FAX: 599-9-692854

THE BRAZILIAN STUDIES ASSOCIATION 2ND CONFERENCE, "Contemporary Brazil: The Transnational and Post-Colonial Condition," will be held at the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis on May 11-13, 1995. The conference will discuss Brazil's insertion in the contemporary scenario of globalization. For more information, contact: Professor Roberto Reis, Program Chair, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Department of Spanish and Portugese, 34 Folwell Hall, Minneapolis, MN 55455 FAX: (612) 625-3549.

SPANBORD - A new listeserv on the history and archaeology of the Spanish Borderlands

For the purposes of this discussion list, we are defining the Spanish borderlands as the following: Mexico - north of Zacatecas; United States: the greater Southwest, California, and the southeast (basically the areas of the U.S. which were once part of the Spanish empire). The time period covered is 1521-1900. SPANBORD is designed to facilitate communication between people interested in such topics as the history of the area, acculturation, historical archaeology of the Spanish Colonial period and the Mexican Republic era,material culture studies, mission studies, military sites history and archaeology, and other aspects of the borderlands. We also encourage contributions by specialists and students in related fields such as ethnohistory, architecture, art history, and maritime studies. To subscribe to SPANBORD, send the following command in the BODY of the mail to LISTSERV@ASUVM.INRE.ASU.EDU "Subscribe SPANBORD your first name your last name," as in "Subscribe SPANBORD Jose de Galvez"

Listowners: Anita Cohen-Williams (IACAGC@ASUVM.INRE.ASU.EDU)

Sandra Mathews-Lamb (SKMLAMB@CARINA.UNM.EDU)

THE INSTITUTE OF EARLY AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE will hold a working seminar in spring 1996 on the construction of race and racism in Europe and the Americas, 1400-1700. Scholars in European, Africa, Latin American, and North American history, anthropology, literature, cultural studies, and related disciplines are invited to submit proposals describing the substance of their subject. Papers expanding these proposals may be published in the William and Mary Quarterly. The deadline for proposals is Oct. 1, 1995. For full information contact Ronald Hoffman, Institute director, or Michael McGiffert, Quarterly editor, at the Institute, P.O. Bos 8781, Williamsburg, VA 23187-8781. Tel: 804-221-1110/1125. Fax: 804-221-1047.

HISTORY OF BRAZIL ON INTERNET. Information through electronic mail (e-mail), such as Internet and Bitnet, has grown rapidly in the last few years and is expected to accelerate even faster in the near future. It is a medium for sharing ideas across borders. Through e-mail, the Center of Research and Documentation of Contemporary History of Brazil (CPDOC) of the Getulio Vargas Foundation offers HISTORY IN BRAZIL (HISTORIA NO BRASIL). The Center's aim is to provide an opportunity to bring attention to the activities in the field of history on a larger scope. The History in Brazil internet is designed to enable historians to communicate faster and disseminate information efficiently to their respective institutions about Brazilian history. It can be accessed easily by institutions, faculty, and students who are on the electronic mail network. To sign up for it you will need an e-mail address. Send your message to: <LISTSERV@BRLNCC.BITNET>. On the first line of the text type the command: SUBSCRIBE HISTORIA NOME COMPLETO.

To submit information on your institution via e-mail, write to: <CPDOC@FGVRJ.BITNET> or send your message by letter, fax or telephone to the address listed below. Information on the History of Brazil comes out every two weeks.

HISTORIA NO BRASIL

Fundacao Getulio Vargas/CPDOC

Praia de Botafogo, 190/12o. andar

Rio de Janeiro, RJ 22253-900

Telephone: (021) 536-9274

Fax: (021) 551-2649

Electronic Address: CPDOC@FGVRJ.BITNET

The Bolton Prize honors the best book in English on any significant aspect of Latin American history which is published anywhere during the imprint year prior to the one of the award (i.e. 1994). Sound scholarship, grace of style, and importance of the scholarly contribution are among the criteria for the award. Normally not considered for the award are translations, anthologies of selections by several authors, reprints or re-editions of works published previously, and works not primarily historical in aim or content. An honorable mention award may be made for an additional distinguished work deemed worthy by the prize committee.

If you would like your book to be considered, contact your publisher and have him send one copy to each of the committee members. They are:

Ralph Woodward, Jr. Brooke Larson Mary Kay Vaughan

Dept.of History Department of History Dept. of History

Tulane U. SUNY-Stony Brook U. of Illinois

New Orleans, LA 70118 Stony Brook, NY 11794 Chicago, IL 60680

The Cline Prize is given biennially for the best article or book on Latin American ethnohistory published in the two years preceding the award, i.e. 1993 and 1994. These works may be in English, German, or a Romance language. If you would like your book or article to be

considered, please send copies of the books you wish to nominate to the committee members;

Erick D. Langer Mary C. Karasch Kevin M. Gosner

Department of History Department of History Department of History

Carnegie Mellon U. Oakland U. Soc. Sci. Bldg. Rm. 215

Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890 Rochester, MI 48309-4401 U. of Arizona

Tucson, AZ 85721

Distinguished Service Award. CLAH members are encouraged to send nominations to the Distinguished Service Award Committee. Please contact:

Michael Meyer, History, U. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, off: (602) 621-7107

e-mail: clio@ccit.arizona.edu

Conference on Latin American History Prize. I would like to encourage authors of papers not published in our list of "authorized" journals to know that self-nomination for the CLAH Prize is entirely appropriate. Please contact me as soon as possible at:

Distinguished Service Award: $500 to Tulio Halperin-Donghi

Herbert E. Bolton Memorial Prize: $500 to Enrique Tandeter: Coercion and Market: Silver Mining in Colonial Potosí, 1692-1826 (Albuquerque: U. of New Mexico Press, 1993).

Herbert E. Bolton Memorial Honorable Mention: to Nils Jacobsen, Mirages of Transition: The Peruvian Altiplano, 1780-1930 (Berkeley & Los Angeles: U. of California Press, 1993).

Conference on Latin American History Prize: $200 to Jonathan C. Brown for "Foreign and Native-Born Workers in Porfirian Mexico," American Historical Review 98:3 (June 1993).

Jacqueline Holler, 1994 Scobie Award Co-Winner

I used the prize to travel to Mexico City for two weeks in August-an exciting if rather chaotic time to be in the city, but for me the only option. I worked in the AGN for that time, both because I found surprisingly abundant sources to work with and because, as I found, I lacked the proper credentials for admission to the cabildo archives. The time in the AGN was well spent; I found significant sources in Tierras and Bienes Nacionales: information relating to the sale of cells, property disputes, etc. Convents are also well represented in Cedulas. I also found many individual nuns' cases in Inquisión-the only place where beatas as well as professed nuns make an appearance. Moreover, I found a whole volume of sixteenth-century cases in which individuals were charged with asserting that the status of married individuals was better than that of nuns; I believe that these cases could offer a chance to reevaluate contemporary perceptions of nuns' status. I had no difficulty filling my days in the archive and I shall return for a longer stay as soon as possible.

However, the sources for the sixteenth century are less abundant than for the later period, suggesting that a visit to Seville, which I hope to make in the spring, will be necessary. Nonetheless, it is evident that I should spend at least a month in Mexico again in the autumn of 1995, consulting the sources I have identified in the AGN as well as visiting the cabildo and hopefully the Franciscan archives.

The photocopying and transcribing I did in the AGN stands me in good stead as I prepare my dissertation prospectus, which I shall defend in November at Emory. More importantly however, the experience clearly indicates to me the feasibility of my dissertation topic. I want to thank the committee once again for choosing me for the Scobie Prize.

Harold Langfur, 1994 Scobie Award Co-Winner

With the generous support of the CLAH James R. Scobie Memorial Award, I spent a month in Cuiabá, the capital of the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, and three weeks in Rio de Janeiro. My preliminary research at the U. of Texas at Austin had not prepared me for the richness of the Arquivo Público do Estado de Mato Grosso. Historians have only begun to explore this archive, which contains a wealth of material stretching back to the early eighteenth century. I devoted the first phase of my research there to familiarizing myself with the documentation available from the second half of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This led to the discovery of a vast and varied manuscript collection pertaining to the Paraguayan War (1864-70).

The history of Brazil's involvement in that war has been treated primarily as a military tale of triumphant battles and skillful diplomacy enacted by elite white males. The history of the civilian population, as it was affected by this conflict, has been all but ignored. When the Paraguayan Army occupied portions of Mato Grosso in 1865, leading to Brazil's declaration of war, Cuiabá became the repository for documents that reveal how the war disrupted civilian society. I found substantial material on a variety of social groups--Indians, women, the free poor, and slaves--whose lives were transformed by the war but whose history has been overshadowed by that of soldiers, generals, and statesmen. My research in Cuiabá allowed me to begin to analyze how these groups behaved under the tremendous strain of living in or near territory seized by an enemy army while at the same time largely isolated from the nation's center of power in Rio de Janeiro. In turn, I am now broadening my dissertation research from its original sole focus on Amerindians to include these other historical actors. I intend to treat military conflict as social history and provide a crucial regional perspective on a national calamity.

Thanks to this summer's research, I can now be certain that the documentation exists to support such an undertaking. My interest in the Indians of Mato Grosso led me to locate a collection of hundreds of letters written by the director of Indian affairs during the war years. As my research expanded to include other social groups, I worked with correspondence, both official and private, between the provincial president, the chief of police, the director of the Santa Casa de Misericórdia, the local bishop, municipal judges, and many other Mato Grosso authorities. I managed to have five manuscript volumes of such correspondence microfilmed, which will allow me to continue this work here in Austin. Other documents which I found particularly useful were the daily crime reports from the chief of police and a collection of official requests, primarily by women and the elderly, to have their husbands and sons relieved from military duty. I expect to make good use of these when I return to Cuiabá for more research.

In Rio de Janeiro, I worked at three institutions. At the Arquivo Nacional, I concentrated on the 22-volume Códice 547, which contains correspondence concerning the Paraguayan War, a significant portion of it originating from or directed to Mato Grosso. At the Biblioteca Nacional, I worked with and ultimately purchased a copy of a reel of microfilm containing expensive runs of several Mato Grosso newspapers of the period. And at the Museu Histórico Nacional, I used the Coleção Guerra do Paraguay, a rich archive of photographs and documents pertaining to the war.