To gather historical data obtainable only in the Archivo General de la Nación.
If there's interest, I'll discuss what the project is about in a later post. Right now, I'll say that the Archivo was a great place to work. The staff is incredibly helpful, and the reading room is rather pleasant, although the air-conditioning system was one of the loudest I've ever run across. Thankfully, the Archivo has its own backup power system, and therefore was only hit with one brownout while I was working there.
There was one pleasant mustacchioed old fellow there, quite garrulous. I think he was a professor or former professor: he was always nattily-dressed in jacket-and-tie, and he was usually assisted by some rather younger women. At one point he turned to me and asked, "Are you from here?" I smiled and said no. He nodded, and asked if I were from Mexico or the U.S. I lied, of course, at which point he said to me, and this was as weird as it sounds, "In the time of Trujillo, things were orderly."
I later got the opportunity to glance at the 1940s-era newspapers that he was reviewing. I'm fairly certain that he wasn't looking at the ads, but I found this one too striking not to record for posterity.
Extranjero vecino, indeed.
There is interest about the project. I'm always in the mood for good tales of historical research.
Posted by: Tony Zbaraschuk | April 17, 2008 at 11:17 PM