Archival Sources on Venezuelan Oil: A Short Note

Abstract

The main source for all aspects of twentieth century Venezuela is the Archivo Hist6rico de Miraflores, created in 1959 by Dr. Ram6n J. Velasquez. The archive is divided into three main sections: correspondence sent by presidents and their secretaries general, correspondence received, and telegrams received. The documents are chronologically classified up to 1945, but there is no index, which means that every document has to be examined separately. This can be very timeconsuming considering the amount of material available. For example, for the 27 years of the G6mez period there are 985 legajos (files) containing on average more than 300 documents received, 262 500-page copybooks for correspondence sent, and an even greater number of telegrams. Without an adequate index the prospect of starting research here is daunting and one should be prepared for a lengthy stay. Another problem of the archive is that sometimes documents have been wrongly catalogued or documents relating to certain key periods have been misplaced. For instance, the large number of documents one would expect relating to the 1937 general oil strike are not there. Despite these drawbacks the archive offers the best source for all aspects, including oil, of Venezuelan history and the people who work there, while limited in technical competence, are friendly and helpful. Access to the archive is difficult though because it is located in the basement of an annexe to the presidential palace, with the result that security checks have to be run on the applicant and direct permission from the Secretary General Minister is needed. The Divisi6n de Conservaci6n de la Oficina T6cnica de Hidrocarburos of the