Guide to the Research Collections
|SECTION -- III -- THE SOCIAL SCIENCES|
|52 -- GENERAL HISTORY OF THE AMERICAS|
|South America (Billings HCM-HLY)|
Approximately 26,400 volumes include general histories
Guide to the Research Collections
|SECTION -- III -- THE SOCIAL SCIENCES|
|52 -- GENERAL HISTORY OF THE AMERICAS|
|South America (Billings HCM-HLY)|
Approximately 26,400 volumes include general histories and works of description and travel, together with reprinted documents and archives.
Books of travel in South American countries frequently contain information of permanent interest. Even if popularly written, they may include interesting archaeological and ethnological observations; many such works are by professionally trained members of exploratory or scientific expeditions. A subject of related interest is geography: this group of works, although not large, includes such important series as the Boletim geográfico of the Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatistica. The published accounts of scientific expeditions in the holdings on natural history are also useful, as are works related to mountains and mountaineering.
An important related subject is biography. In addition to individual biographies, the library maintains a good collection of South American biographical dictionaries. Current editions are kept in the reference collections of the Main Reading Room, and earlier editions are housed in the stacks.
The collection is rich in periodicals, including those which reprint documents and archives. Included are the serial publications of ministries and government departments such as the Brazilian Ministério das Relaç[omacr ]es Exteriores or the Uruguayan Archivo General. Various academies also issue important series, such as the Boletin (1912- ) of the Academia Nacional de la Historia, Caracas, or its Documentos para los anales de Venezuela (1890-1909) and similar series. Institutes are also active with such publications as the Revistas of the Instituto Arqueológico, Histórico e Geográfico Pernambucano (1863- ) or the Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro (1939- ). To these may be added the publications of two kinds of institutions not generally associated with the publications of national archives, such as the Memoria and the Revista of the Biblioteca Nacional of Argentina, and the documents series of the Museo Mitre of Buenos Aires.
The files of conventional historical periodicals are generally complete. Those devoted to contemporary matters date from the time of World War I, and the files are sometimes incomplete. The excellent collection of popular Hispanic-American periodicals contains additional material of interest to students of South American history.
The collections relating to the individual countries of South America are more or less equal in extent of coverage and importance of materials included; therefore only distinguishing features are noted in the following paragraphs. The library has sought to collect everything available relating to international affairs, and the coverage would seem to indicate boundary disputes as a major cause of negotiation. There are extensive writings, both official and unofficial, on such disputes as those between Venezuela and British Guiana, and Bolivia and Paraguay.
Large sets and collections are notable features of the various national historical sources. The extensive holdings of early Americana formed by James Lenox and continually augmented include many of the greatest rarities in the field represented not only in first editions but also in contemporaneous translations.
More than 2,790 titles represent area studies of the Argentine Republic. Of these, some 860 relate to history, and approximately 300 to description and travel. Best covered among the historical periods are the wars of independence (1810-17) and the period from 1817 to 1860. Among source materials are such works as Pedro de Angelis's Colección de obras y documentos relativos á la historia antigua y moderna de las provincias del Rio de la plata (Buenos Aires, 1836-37) and