The population “explosion” in latin america during the past 25 years has been followed by a veritable explosion of research into its origins, characteristics, and effects as seen from the points of view of many disciplines. Research on the economic determinants, concomitants, and consequences of population growth in Latin America has not been absent; but it has been notably less abundant than that pertaining, for example, to sociological dimensions of the phenomenon.

Some historians and political scientists have probably passed each other on their way to incorporate the paraphernalia of their respective disciplines. The historians are showing greater interest in theoretical questions and a growing methodological sophistication. The political scientists have begun to test their models against well-known events which have been previously researched by the historians. Obviously, this trend is no harbinger of disciplinary convergence although it underlines the similarity of interests between quantitatively oriented historians and developmentally oriented political scientists.

In 1968, I was offered the opportunity to prepare a brief survey of resources and prospects for quantitative research in Latin American history by the ad hoc committee on quantitative data of the American historical association. I was at first charged with treatment of the whole period 1500-1960, but the willingness of John TePaske to undertake a lion's share of the task ended in limiting my responsibility to ‘only’ the 19th and 20th centuries. The results of that survey, as indeed those of professor TePaske's work, are available in the collection of papers edited by Val R. Lorwin and Jacob price, the dimensions of the past. In the notes which follow I will try to avoid repeating any of the presentation in that work and will instead try to build a bridge between that effort of five years ago and developments in this field of research in the past few years.

The state of minas gerais, atop the central brazilian plateau, has long cast a spell over people of adventurous spirit. For years it supplied the Portuguese empire with a seemingly endless supply of mineral wealth. In 1698, gold was discovered and the famous ‘century of gold’ was ushered in. The mines of Minas proved to be among the richest ever worked by man and they provided the base for the luxurious Mineiro society that flourished throughout the eighteenth century.

The study of politics in british universities has traditionally been historical in approach and parochial in scope. It is only recently that the teaching and research interests of british political scientists have spread beyond the Anglo-European parliamentary tradition to the more ‘exotic’ areas of what is inaccurately called the ‘third world’. In the first half of this century the observation and analysis of political activity in the non-European parts of the world were the unchallenged concerns of travellers, diplomats, and journalists; and their writings found few serious readers in the universities. Their work was regarded, and often conceived, as a species of adventurers' tales describing quaint but essentially pre-political societies.

A vital interest in the affairs of Latin America has grown recently in Australia. There, in that land “in back of the beyond,” professors are offering new programs of Latin American studies while their librarian counterparts have strengthened their holdings through active participation in the Latin American cooperative acquisition program (LACAP) and in the seminars on the acquisition of Latin American library materials (SALALM). The move of claudio Véliz from the universidad de chile to the chair of the department of sociology, La Trobe University (Bundoora, Victoria), will stimulate further the development of Latin American studies in the antipodes, while the resurgence of trans-pacific sailings during the past decade is attracting the interest of the Australians to the nations across the Pacific. It is worth noting that last year Professor Gilbert Butland of the University of New England, Armidale (New South Wales) published a general study entitled The other side of the Pacific: Problems of Latin America (Sydney, 1972).

Although the volume of research on Latin America has increased markedly in the past decade or so, major topics remain neglected. One of these encompasses the urban working class (wage labor) and worker organizations. This situation, however, is changing. Scholars today are opening new lines of investigation and are applying fresh criteria to existing data in order to formulate working hypotheses and test older theories about organized labor and the working class in Latin America. This article presents a brief, highly selective analysis of new and traditional materials available for Argentina, Brazil, and Chile. It treats the urban sectors and labor in modernized enclaves in rural areas almost exclusively; related topics such as peasant unions and rural labor in general fall outside its scope. It outlines areas and problems that future investigators might probe and also presents some hypotheses. Perhaps most important, it attempts to orient future investigators in the field.

One must always make a special case for presenting puerto rican along with other Latin American studies. With public planning this is even more true. Puerto Rico is, after all, legally a part of the United States, and for many decades its well-being has been intimately tied to both general conditions in the U.S. and to U.S. policies, even those not directed specifically at Puerto Rico. For these reasons, planning by the government of Puerto Rico is very constrained: it must act without any of the options available to independent governments, such as the issuance of money or the control of imports; its laws and procedures must accommodate to the constraints of the U.S. legal system; it must permit U.S. citizens who are not Puerto Ricans to participate under conditions of full equality and mobility in Puerto Rico and between Puerto Rico and the U.S. mainland.

Archives of South America The International Archival Affairs Committee of the Society of American Archivisits will conduct its second Archives Study Tour: Archives of South America, in August 1974. The tour will feature visits to public and private archival agencies, manuscript repositories, and libraries in Lima, Santiago, Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Caracas. Included also are historical orientation tours of museums and historic sites, and visits to attractions such as Iguassu Falls. An optional extension to Cuzco and Machu Picchu has been scheduled. The tour has been arranged through Sanders World Travel and is available to members of the Society, and other persons interested in archives. For further information write: SAA International Archival Affairs Committee, Frank B. Evans, Chairman, National Archives Building-Room 5E, Washington, D.C. 20408.