Extractos de Escrituras Publicas. Archivo General de Centro America (review)

This labor of love by the Guatemalan lawyer, amateur historian and genealogist, Juan Jose Falla, is an invaluable research tool for anybody working on early colonial Guatemala (up to ca. 1650). Due to the author's interests, including where prominent Spanish and Creole vecinos lived in the city of Santiago de Guatemala, the notarial record extracts concentrate on wills and testaments, mortgages, censos and purchases and sales of buildings. There is also a lesser emphasis on rural properties, sales of African slaves, and encomiendas. Other topics such as labor contracts, apprenticeships, guarantees, shipments of goods and legal powers are not included.

A total of thirty-three escribanos are represented in these large volumes, covering all of their extant notarial registers from 1538 to 1659. Much like an encyclopedia the data are presented alphabetically by the escribanos' surnames, divided into the three tomes. While some students and researchers may only consult these extracts, others may use them as an invaluable guide to the original notarial registers housed in the Archivo General de Centroamérica or copies available elsewhere on microfilm. Despite the author's genealogical bent, the social historian will find numerous extracts of documents concerning non-elites. Each of the three large volumes has a map of Santiago with numbered blocks to aid in the location of specific houses as well as a meticulously prepared index. While Falla does not pretend to have undertaken an exhaustive coverage of the early protocolos, these volumes are an important resource for colonial Guatemalan historiography and should not be overlooked by any scholar interested in this region and time period. The care and precision with which Falla has undertaken this project is exemplary and could well serve as a model for any individual or team undertaking such an ambitious project.

The three-volume set was privately published but the author has donated the print run to the Museo Popol Vuh in Guatemala City. For information regarding ordering and shipping, the current contact person at the Museo Popol Vuh is Maria Eugenia de Mayen (popolvuh@ufm.edu.gt). Postal address: Museo Popol Vuh, Auditorio de la Universidad Francisco Marroquin, 6a. Calle Final, Zona 10, Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala, CA 01010.