The Conference on Latin American History is gradually expanding its functions: first social and academic sessions at the major historical conventions, then a newsletter, and now sponsorship of bibliographical and other large-scale works in its field. Its latest project is the revision and augmentation of Arthur E. Gropp’s Union List of Latin American Newspapers in Libraries in the United States, published by the Pan American Union in 1953. Acting as impresario, the CLAH obtained the services of the Serial Division, Library of Congress, for the compilation of this new union list and the publication facilities of a leading university press, which has presented the list in handsome, durable form.
The volume itemizes over 5,500 Latin American newspapers— 10% more than the Gropp list—in 70 American libraries which returned reports. Steven M. Charno, the compiler, has used a format now fairly well standardized for such bibliographies. Newspapers are classified by country and city, and each library’s holdings are listed by dates rather than by volume or series numbers. Each library is identified by code letters. At the end is a selected bibliography of useful books and articles on newspapers and printing, published in both the United States and Latin America.
While many of the holdings are much fragmented, the size of this volume is an impressive indication that our resources in Latin American newspapers are probably richer than we realize. Charno and his co-workers at the Library of Congress have done well to untangle the confusion of editions and overlapping holdings existing in many cases—for example, the Panama Star and Herald. Predictably the Library of Congress, the Bancroft Library, and the University of Texas collections appear more often than any others, but there are some surprises for those who are not well acquainted with Latin American materials in this country. For example, who would have expected the American Antiquarian Society to check in with a great range of newspaper holdings from most periods and countries, including an astonishingly varied collection of bits and pieces from Bolivia? Other libraries which prove strong in certain areas—for example, Mexican provincial newspapers—are those of Yale and Tulane Universities. But most major university libraries have at least one or two series of Latin American newspapers, perhaps acquired in some unremembered enthusiasm of the past.
In a brief preface for the CLAH Howard F. Cline explains that the Conference hopes to obtain from its members a set of priorities and possible sources for filling gaps revealed by this list and then, deo volente, establish a program for acquiring the missing newspapers on microfilm. Divine approval will best be shown in the provision of funds for this part of the project.