The Development of Latin-American Studies in the United States, 1939–1945*

THE period 1939–1945 saw an unprecedented expansion of Latin American studies in the United States. This was partly due to the wartime activities of such government agencies as the Department of State and the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, and to the rising interest in the area approach to academic studies. This development would not have been possible, however, without the continuous concern of the foundations, which had helped to organize scholars in the field on a national basis, had stimulated research in relatively neglected fields, and had provided funds for the compilation and publication of certain basic bibliographical tools. Nor would this expansion have been more than a wartime boom had not the scholars and universities of the country been attracted to Hispanic studies since George Ticknor and William H. Prescott¹ first disclosed their importance over a century ago, and to the Latin American field more particularly since 1900. The expansion was based upon solid elements.

The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and the Division of Humanities of the Rockefeller Foundation made wise grants throughout the period. Guggenheim awards were made to men and women in the United States “without distinction as to race, color, or creed,” for research on Latin American problems, and to Latin American scholars on a similar basis. The presence of able investigators from Latin America in our laboratories, libraries, and universities has had an invigorating and sobering effect on the work of our Latin Americanists which is a real, even though secondary product of these fellowships.

The Rockefeller Foundation, on the other hand, has usually worked through institutions rather than individuals to accomplish its ends and has shown a marked concern for this field. As stated in its 1940 Annual Report, “the Rockefeller Foundation has been particularly interested in the last few years in trying to discover methods by which we here in the United States can obtain a more intelligent understanding of the cultural life of Latin America.” ²

During most of the period under review, the Division of Humanities of the Rockefeller Foundation had on its staff a competent Latin American specialist, first Dr. Irving A. Leonard and later Dr. “William Berrien, whose duty it was to sift proposals and recommend action. During 1940, for example, grants were made to three universities—Tulane, North Carolina, and Duke—for the purchase of books, to Brown University for the production and exchange of microfilm copies of important materials in Latin American depositories, and to the Pan American Union’s Division of Intellectual Cooperation.

In addition, funds were made available to the American Council of Learned Societies for the work of its Committee on Latin American Studies. This Committee, under the chairmanship of Professor C. H. Haring, had been quietly at work since 1931 and was responsible for the establishment of the Handbook of Latin American Studies,³ an annual survey of selected publications on Latin American humanities and social sciences whose first issue appeared in 1936. The Committee also sponsored institutes on Latin American Studies at the University of Michigan (1939) and at the University of Texas (1940), and cooperated with the American Council of Learned Societies in the conduct of an institute for the intensive teaching of Spanish and Portuguese, which was held in 1941 at the University of Wyoming under the direction of Dr. Berrien. Another institute, devoted to Portuguese alone was conducted at Burlington in the following year under the same direction.

The Committee was particularly active in the bibliographical field. Besides establishing and maintaining the Handbook of Latin American Studies, a Miscellaneous Series of publications was begun. No. 1 was the Guide to the Latin American Manuscripts at the University of Texas Library⁴ by Carlos E. Castañeda and Jack Autrey Dabbs, and No. 2 A Bibliographical Guide to Materials on American Spanish⁵ by Madaline W. Nichols. In addition the Committee assisted in the planning and preparation of two guides not yet published, “A Guide to the Literary, Linguistic and Folklore Materials in Latin American Periodicals,” edited by Sturgis E. Leavitt, in...