Government Documents

Documents generated by governments of Latin American countries

You can do HOLLIS searches on country as author.

For HOLLIS, use the “Starts with/Browse” link and browse Author: Peru.

If you use HOLLIS, you can refine your search results in the right hand column. 

The Government Documents/Microforms Collection holds a collection of paper government documents on Level D in Lamont (Information available at the under the Ask Us sign at the Lamont Circulation Desk ).

To browse the South American documents:

For HOLLIS, use the “Browse HOLLIS by” link on the basic search screen and browse Old Widener Call Number: SA Doc 1 [You need a number, just SA Doc will not work].

Each country has its sequence of numbers. Peru is SA Doc 8519-SA Doc 8882.  Doing an Author search in HOLLIS Advanced Search and then refining to Location: Documents (Lamont) should put you in the proper call number range for your country.

Government documents from Lamont Level D must be paged; the stacks are closed. HOW CAN I ACCESS GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS AND MICROFORMS FROM LAMONT LEVEL D?

More information on paper government documents in Lamont.

Latin American Government Documents Archive – LAGDA (2005-)

A guide to the official publications of the other American republics. Washington, Library of Congress, 1945- .
--1. Argentina.--2. Bolivia.--3. Brazil.--4. Chile.--5. Colombia.--6. Costa Rica.--7. Cuba.--8 Dominican Republic.--9. Ecuador.--10. El Salvador.--11. Guatemala.--12. Haiti.--13. Honduras.--14. Nicaragua.--15. Panama.--16. Paraguay. --17. Peru.--18. Uruguay.--19. Venezuela.
HOLLIS Record
HathiTrust Full Text
Internet Archive Full Text

LLMC Digital
Go to Online Services, then Browse Collections.  A rich source of legislative and judicial documents

Brazilian Government Documents

Mexican Senado/Senate Diary of Debates

Cámara de Diputados

An Electronic Guide to Mexican Law (NYU)

Presidential Messages (Mexico and Argentina) 
A collection of digital full-text presidential messages of Argentina and Mexico from the early 19th century to the present.

InfoJUS - Legislación Local
A selection of state legislation

Legislación Mexicana
First six volumes of the classic printed collection of Mexican legislation covering 1687 to 1866

Mexican Chamber of Deputies - Leyes y Poderes Estatales
The Mexican states and the Federal District are now posting a good deal of legislation on their websites.

Documents generated by the British government

 

Confidential print: Latin America, 1833-1969 includes papers generated by the British Foreign and Colonial Offices which were printed and circulated immediately to leading officials in the Foreign Office, to the Cabinet, and to Heads of British missions abroad. Covers the whole of South and Central America, plus the non-British islands of the Caribbean, from just after the final Spanish withdrawal from mainland America in the 1820s to the height of the Cold War in the 1960s. Covering revolutions, territorial changes and political movements, foreign financial interests, industrial and infrastructural development (including the building of the Panama Canal), wars, slavery, immigration from Europe and relations with indigenous peoples, amongst other topics, the files in this title form a vital resource for any scholar of Latin American history in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Leeward Islands. Original correspondence, 1689-1940 (Find It @ Harvard) On microfilm.

Montserrat. Original correspondence 1725-1872 (Find It @ Harvard) On microfilm.

North America, CO 5, Colonial Office, America and West Indies, original correspondence, etc., 1606-1807 (Find It @ Harvard) On microfilm.
 
British Foreign Office correspondence on Mexico (1919-1958) (Find It @ Harvard) Supplement: 1957-1958 (Find It @ Harvard) On microfilm.

Documents generated by United States government

Online materials

Diplomatic correspondence of the United States: inter-American affairs, 1831-1860 Also in print (Find It @ Harvard)

Diplomatic correspondence of the United States concerning the independence of the Latin-American nations (Find It @ Harvard) In print and also online in HeinOnline Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS)

Declassified documents

Digital National Security Archive (1945- ) contains 22 core collections of declassified documents, including several collections on human rights and drug policies in Latin American-US relations. Additional material is available in their Electronic Briefing Books and the CIA’s “family jewels” collections.

Declassified Documents Reference System Online which contains declassified documents sent from various government agencies to the presidential libraries.

Some material on the Presidential Library websites is not in the Declassified Documents Reference System.

CIA Electronic Reading Room

  • Leave the search field blank and hit search
  • Use the filters on the right to narrow your search
  • CREST (CIA Records Search Tool) material as well as FOIA (Freedom Of Information Act) is included.

State Department Electronic Reading Room contains over 50,000 documents. State Department material from 1973-76 is available on the National Archives’ Access to Archival Databases website.

Gale World Scholar Latin America & the Caribbean Archive includes:

  • Records of the Department of State Relating to Internal Affairs of Argentina, 1940–1944
  • Records of the Department of State Relating to Internal Affairs of Mexico, 1930–1939
  • Records of the Department of State Relating to Political Affairs, U.S. and Bolivia, 1945–1959
  • Records of the Department of State Relating to Political Relations Between the U.S. and Brazil, 1945–1959
  • Records of the Department of State Relating to Political Relations Between the U.S. and Central America, 1911–1929
  • Records of the Department of State Relating to Political Relations Between the U.S. and Central America, 1911–1929 and Between Central America and Other States, 1910–1929
  • Records of the Department of State Relating to Political Relations Between the U.S. and Cuba, 1910–1929
  • Records of the Department of State Relating to Political Relations Between the U.S. and Guatemala, 1945–1959
  • Records of the Department of State Relating to Political Relations Between the U.S. and Haiti, 1910–1929
  • Records of the Department of State Relating to Political Relations Between the U.S. and Haiti, 1945–1959
  • Records of the Department of State Relating to Political Relations Between the U.S. and Other American States (Monroe Doctrine), 1910–1949
  • Records of the Department of State Relating to Political Relations Between the U.S. and Panama, 1910–1929
  • Records of the Department of State Relating to Political Relations Between the U.S. and the Dominican Republic, 1945–1959
  • Records of the Department of State Relating to Political Relations Between the United States and Nicaragua, 1910–1929
  • Records of the Department of State Relating to the First Panama Congress, 1825–1827
  • Records of the Department of State Relating to the Internal Affairs of Central America, 1930–1949
  • Records of the Department of State Relating to the Internal Affairs of Guatemala, 1950–1963
  • Records of the Department of State Relating to the Internal Affairs of the Dominican Republic, 1960–1963
Microfilm Collections

The Microfilm Collection, Lamont, level B, has numerous large collections that are easily overlooked. Among collections of microfilmed U.S. government documents, the following contain information on foreign countries:

Diplomatic Records

Confidential U.S. diplomatic post records: Central America, 1930-1945 (coverage varies by country)
Online Guides (scroll down) 
Search for title above in HOLLIS to access microfilm collection for each country

Despatches from United States ministers to [country name], 1790-1906 (coverage varies by country)
Search for title above in HOLLIS, with applicable country name, to access microfilm collection for each country
For full list see NARA site. Select Microfilm icon, then search Ministers in search box.

Despatches from United States consuls in [city name],  1790-1906 (coverage varies by country)
Search for title above in HOLLIS, with applicable city name, to access microfilm collection for each city/country.
For full list see NARA site. Select Microfilm icon, then search Consuls in search box.
For items at CRL or not at Harvard or CRL, obtain via Interlibrary Loan

State Department Records

Confidential U.S. State Department central files, 1940-1969 (coverage varies by country)
Online Guides (Scroll down)
Search for title above in HOLLIS, with applicable country name, to access microfilm collection for each country

Records of the U.S. Department of State relating to the internal affairs of [Country name], 1910-1963 (coverage varies by country. mostly 1940s-1950s)
Search for title above in HOLLIS, with applicable country name, to access microfilm collection for each country.
Online guides

Records of the U.S. Department of State relating to political relations between the United States and [Country name], 1930-1959 (coverage varies by country)
Search for title above in HOLLIS, with applicable country name, to access microfilm collection for each country.
Online guide available only for Records of the U.S. Department of State relating to political relations between the United States and Latin America and the Caribbean states, 1930-1944. Department of State decimal files 711.12-711.39, 69 microfilm reels

Latin America national security files, 1961-1963 (Find It @ Harvard) On microfilm. Online guide (focus on Brazil, Cuba, Dominican Republic)

Latin America national security files, 1963- 1969 (Find It @ Harvard) On microfilm. Online guide

[Country name] the making of U.S. Policy [years vary] Available on microfilm. (Previously classified documentation pertaining to U.S. political, military, and economic involvement.)
Search for title above in HOLLIS, with applicable country name, to access microfilm collection for each country.

El Salvador war, peace, and human rights, 1980-1994 (Find It @ Harvard) On microfilm. (the National Security Archive's second set of declassified U.S. records concerning El Salvador; a continuation of: El Salvador, the making of U.S. policy, 1977-1984)
 
The Iran-Contra affair, the making of a scandal, 1983-1988 (Find It @ Harvard) On microfilm.

Crises in Panama and the Dominican Republic: National Security Files and NSC Histories. (Find It @ Harvard) On microfilm.

Intelligence Reports

CIA Research Reports: Latin America, 1946-1976 (Find It @ Harvard)
Online Guide

U.S. military intelligence reports 1918-1944 (coverage varies by country)
Online Guides (scroll down) 
Search for title above in HOLLIS, with applicable country name, to access microfilm collection for each country.

O.S.S./State Department intelligence and research reports. 14 pts. on 124 microfilm reels
On microfilm (Find It @ Harvard) Location : Microforms (Lamont) Film A 215 [Level B]
Online (follow the View Online link and then select the last link in the list, which is Latin America, 1941-1961)

For more government documents, see the Government Documents and the Government Archives sections of the Library Research Guide for History.