William E. Gates Latin American Bibliography: Collection #73

COLLECTION GUIDE

Prepared by Ruth Olivera, September 1985; revised by Devin Dittfurth, July 1998.

The William Gates Latin American Bibliography consists of 7600 3x5 bibliographical cards pertaining to various Latin American topics.

1924-1925 correspondence extracted from the William Gates papers, Collection #18, reveals the direction which Gates envisioned for the newly formed Department of Middle American Research at Tulane University. Among other projects is what Gates called a Bureau of Information and Statistics, which would provide a complete and readily available source of data on modern Central America to those interested (particularly those with commercial interests). In a letter written on June 23, 1924, Gates indicated to his assistant, A.W. Payne, that the purpose of the Bureau was to proceed "outlining and working not toward a mere card index of our own, but a final full card bibliography of everthing we can locate anywhere, with merely our own shelf nos. added when we have it. That graduates the 'library index' into a real bibliography..." New Orleans was to be the gateway to Central and South America, and Tulane was to provide the answers to any and all questions. "Si quiere interarse, ponga una pregunta a Tulane," said Gates.

To this end, Gates hired at least three people, Harold A. Mattice, Foster Morrell, and his sister, Elizabeth Curtis Payne, to copy bibliographical cards at the New York Public Library, the Pan American Union, and the library of the Department of Agriculture. Records show that Gates spent $779.65 for aproximately 21,000 cards.

Gates's tenure at Tulane was short-lived and his bibliography was never completed. Many of the cards have been lost or do not refer specifically to the Department of Middle Research, as Gates had indicated they would. The importance of the collection lies in the fact that works cited date from 1924 or before. G.K. Hall published the Pan American Union's Index to Latin American Literature 1929-1960, which thus postdates all material in this bibliography. Many citations here are for works published at the turn of the century.

As it stands today, the bibliography covers topics under letters A through S only. Although it relates principally to works on Central America, there are citations for South American countries in many catagories. The following headings are employed; those marked with an asterik have particular emphasis:

Altitudes
Antiquities
Avocado
Aztecs
*Bibliography
Biblioteca
Boletin
Botany
British
British Guiana
British Honduras
Bureau
Cartography
Catalogues
Central America
*Central American:

Arbitration Court

Bureau

Chamber of Commerce

Conference

Construction Company

Court of Justice

Federation

Hierogliphic Writing

Journalistic COngress

Labor Conference

Land and Improvement Co.

Medical Conference-Congress

Normal Institute

Peace Conference

Pedagogic Congress

Policy

Press Conference

Relations

Republic

Treaties

Union
*Costa Rica
*Economic Conditions
*Explorations
Folk-lore
Great Britian
Guatemala
Guiana:

British

Dutch

French
History
Indians
Literature
Maps
Mosquitia
*Museo-Museums
Nicaragua
(Panama)
Printing
*Railroads
Rain
Raintree
Resources
Rivers
*Roads
Rubber
*Salvador
*Sanitation
Sociedad-Societies

See Accesion file for copies of letters which refer to this bibliography.

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Last updated: April 25, 2002