Scope and Content Note
The Guatemalan Documents Collection consists of material compiled by the Guatemalan Comité Nacional de Defensa contra el Comunismo concerning the period 1944-1954 and given to the Library of Congress by the University of Pennsylvania Foreign Policy Research Institute. Included are 60 reels of microfilm and approximately 35,000 paper documents that are mostly available also on the film version. The collection is organized in six series: Microfilm , Special Series , Correspondence and Official Papers , Minutes , Financial Accounts , and Miscellany .
The papers in this collection cover the period of Guatemalan history dating from the overthrow and exile from power of General Jorge Ubico in 1944 to the overthrow of Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán by Carlos Castillo Armas in 1954. They show the emergence and growth of political parties and labor unions during a decade of change, the sweep of social reform attempted by Arbenz and his predecessor, Juan José Arévalo, the struggle of Arbenz's government for survival, and the influence on it domestically and internationally of socialists and communists.
The documents are composed in part of both official and private correspondence from individuals in all walks of life, from the president of the republic to farmers in remote areas. Correspondence from government agencies is represented as well as the correspondence of political parties and labor unions. Correspondence between Guatemalans and individuals and organizations abroad, generally of communist origin, is also in the collection. Present in addition are minutes and records of leading political parties and labor unions, and financial accounts of the chief labor unions in the country.