Converted to EAD3 : Encoded Archival Description (EAD), Version 3 : Release: 1.1.1 : Release Date: 2019-12-16. Validating against latest version of schema.
Contact information: https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss.contact
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm93081178
Collection material in English, French, and Spanish
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the LC Catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically.
The Panama Collection of the Canal Zone Library-Museum was transferred from the Panama Canal Commission to the Library of Congress in 1978.
The Panama Collection of the Canal Zone Library-Museum was arranged and described in 1993 by Karen Linn Femia with the assistance of Kathleen Kelly and Scott McLemee. The oversize series was reorganized and the register revised in 2006.
Some materials from the collections were sent to the Library's Prints and Photographs, Geography and Map, and Hispanic divisions.
The status of copyright in the unpublished writings in the Panama Collection of the Canal Zone Library-Museum is governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.).
The Panama Collection is open to research. Researchers are advised to contact the Manuscript Reading Room prior to visiting. Many collections are stored off-site and advance notice is needed to retrieve these items for research use.
A microfilm edition of part of these papers is available on eight reels. Consult a reference librarian in the Manuscript Division concerning availability for purchase or interlibrary loan.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container number or reel number, Panama Collection of the Canal Zone Library-Museum, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
The Panama Collection of the Canal Zone Library-Museum spans the years 1804-1977. The bulk of the material dates from the second half of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century. Documents are in French, Spanish, and English. The collection was gathered in Panama by the Canal Zone Library-Museum, which is associated with the United States Panama Canal Commission. Due to the Panama Canal Treaty of 1977 with the Republic of Panama, which transferred the canal from the United States to Panama at the end of the twentieth century, the commission decided to transfer the special collections of the Library-Museum to the Library of Congress. As the manuscript collection of another institution, the material from the Library-Museum is a diverse set of papers generated by many individuals and organizations. Most of the files relate to the involvement of foreign individuals and organizations in the planning and eventual construction of a Panamanian interoceanic canal. Also included is material on the Panama Railroad, various business and real estate interests in Panama, and the social and cultural life of the Canal Zone. There is a tremendous range in the types of documents in the collection, including correspondence, diaries, memoirs, mementos, legal files, property deeds and titles, contracts, financial ledgers, technical drawings, and ephemera relating to social clubs.
The collection has been arranged into four series. The first series, Personal Papers , contains mostly diaries, memoirs, and correspondence, with the largest part consisting of the papers of the de Sablá family. The first member of this French family to reside in Panama arrived in the 1840s from the French Caribbean colony of Guadeloupe. The family owned a bakery and a large tract of land called Bernardino in Panama, and members became involved in many business interests: the Panama Railroad Company, Panama Water Works, canal ventures, a telegraph company, and mining. In 1932 heirs of the family, who were United States citizens, sued the government of Panama for damages done to family property. Most of the de Sablá family papers consist of legal papers and supporting documents for
The Organizations File , the second series in the collection, contains records of social clubs, institutions, and businesses in Panama and in the Canal Zone. Included are materials from the Isthmian Canal Commission and two nineteenth-century French canal companies, the Compagnie nouvelle du canal de Panama and the Compagnie universelle du canal interocéanique. Many technical drawings and reports are among the records of the French companies. Records of the Canal Zone Baseball League, Isthmian Historical Society, and Natural History Society may also be found in this series.
The Canal Zone Library-Museum had organized some of its manuscript material at the item level. These items have been placed with other disparate materials in a series of Miscellaneous Manuscripts . Included are individual pieces of correspondence, writings, printed matter, ephemera from cultural events, mementos, and congressional testimonies of eleven officers of the Isthmian Canal Commission. Mounted in a memorial volume dedicated to George W. Goethals, the chief engineer of the Panama Canal, are many fine photoprints of the canal's construction. Notable correspondents include Dwight D. Eisenhower and Ferdinand de Lesseps.
The final series in the collection consists of a set of booklets concerning legal and legislative matters in Panama and the Canal Zone. Copies of the title pages have been arranged alphabetically for use as an index.
The collection is arranged in five series:
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm93081178
Diaries, memoirs, correspondence, writings, and legal and business papers.
Arranged alphabetically by name of the person or family.
Diary of William Henry Sidell available on microfilm. Shelf no. 12,191
Correspondence, minutes of meetings, financial material, contracts, printed matter, advertisements, canal plans, technical drawings and reports, posters, newspaper clippings, menus, scrapbooks, photographs, and ephemera.
Arranged alphabetically by type or name of club, business, institution, or organization.
Containers 14-21 have been microfilmed, but the film consists of a negative copy and is not available for reader use. Shelf no. 20, 869-7N.
Correspondence, printed matter, autograph collections, bibliographies, mementos, ephemera, writings, photographs, passports, and congressional testimony.
Arranged alphabetically by topic, name of person, or type of material.
Booklets concerning legislative and legal matters in the Republic of Panama and the Canal Zone.
Arranged in alphabetical groupings by Container and preceded by an index comprised of photocopied title pages.
Oversize real estate documents, printed matter, books, posters, technical papers, financial material, and scrapbooks.
Organized and described according to the series, folders, and containers from which the items were removed.