The GRIFFITH COLLECTION of sources for the history of Guatemala, brought together by William J. Griffith, Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Kansas, is composed of newspapers, metropolitan and provincial, both mainstream and the short-lived organs of controversy; pamphlets, proclamations, broadsides; executive messages, memorias, and informes; laws, decrees, and orders, both individually, as promulgated, and gathered together in general and topical collections; books and periodicals; and some manuscripts.
The collection contains significant quantities of material on government and political activity at the national, departmental, and municipal levels; influential institutions such as the Church, the Consulado de Comercio, the Sociedad Economica, the University of San Carlos, the Protomedicato; political and ecclasiastical controversies; military organization, activity, and personalities; charitable institutions and activities; and developmental projects such as railroad promotion and building.
The existence of this permanent collection of sources for the study of Guatemala and the Central American Region has the potential to make Guatemala better known and better understood abroad. The collection is available to researchers in the secure and climate-controlled enviroment of the Kenneth Spencer Research Library, the rare books and manuscripts library of the University of Kansas.