Reference:DIPLOMATIC DESPATCHES

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DIPLOMATIC DESPATCHES

What are they?

"Filmed from the holdings of the National Archives, consular despatches are reports from U.S. consular representatives to the State Department. They cover subjects such as relations with foreign nationals, economic, political or social conditions. They may include copies of correspondence from various sources including other consuls, local government officials, private citizens or U.S. Naval commanders stationed in foreign waters."

Where are they?

People asking for these are looking for the microfilm collection up in Gov Pubs. The collection is listed on Carolyn's Government Publications Microfilm Collections subject guide (listed under "Government Information") or in the PAC. Note the spelling of "despatches" and that the title is "Despatches from United States consuls in..."

IF we own an index it is in Ref/US. The indexes, unfortunately, are not very detailed. They basically give the dates/places included on each roll. These indexes are also available online from NARA' Diplomatic Records page under Part 4: Publications by Country or Area and Part 5: Numerical Listing of Microfilm Publications.

There is a class assignment that uses pre-1900 records from "Despatches from United States consuls in ... Mexico [microform]."The PAC record gives the various consuls included (e.g. Ensenada) and which roll they're on.

There is also a link to the Despatches from the Latin American Studies page at http://infodome.sdsu.edu/research/guides/latinamer/latinamer_studies.shtml. They're also listed in Latin America on Microform at the SDSU Library in a black folder in the reference drawer.

Also see http://libtext.library.wisc.edu/FRUS/ (Foreign relations of the U.S. facsimile documents) and http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/frus/ )

MD

11/02