With this volume, the Instituto de Historia Argentina y Americana “Doctor Emilio Ravignani” of the Universidad de Buenos Aires resumes publication of an exceptionally valuable source collection, suspended since the appearance in 1960 of tomo 2, corresponding to the years 1821-22. Since tomo 3 covers 1824-25, the intervening year 1823 has been omitted, and not because Juan Facundo Quiroga failed to squirrel away papers from that year in the “archive” that he built up. Rather, the transcripts for 1823 had somehow disappeared, and though the originals did not, it was thought better to go ahead with publication of what was ready instead of delaying the project further while the laborious work of copying and editing the 1823 materials was repeated.
The Archivo Quiroga consists almost entirely of correspondence and other documents, chiefly manuscript but a few printed, received by the La Rioja landowner and militia commander whom Sarmiento later portrayed as a fearsome ogre symbolizing the “barbarie” that afflicted the new republic. Only a handful are by Quiroga himself, so that what we learn about him, apart from the fact that he was a systematic paper saver, is mostly on the authority of his correspondents—and it is often tantalizingly incomplete. However, as Félix Luna observes in an “Advertencia Preliminar,” the documents published here shed light on the politics and economics of the interior provinces, on social customs and linguistics, indeed on just about everything. If only there were some sort of topical index! Yet, in general, the volume reflects an exemplary job of editing, and it takes us to the very eve of the emergence of Facundo as a key national figure. Let us hope the next volume is not delayed so long.
