General Correspondence - from Miles Rock to Others, 1892, 1896, undated

Materials in this collection pertain to Miles Rock, chief of the Guatemalan Boundary Commission from 1883-1898, and his efforts to demarcate the Mexico-Guatemala border. Items include letters and telegrams to and from a number of government officials in the United States and Guatemala regarding travel arrangements, salary requirements, surveying tools, and other matters. Files also contain correspondence to and from individuals in Peten, Guatemala, and various Rock family members. Some of the correspondents include US Secretary of State Frederick Frelinghuysen; Major John Wesley Powell, director of the US Geological Survey; Edward T. Cobb, an engineer and observer of day-to-day activities on the Guatemalan Boundary Commission; Clodoveo Berges, chief official of the district of Peten; Antonio Batres, Guatemalan minister for foreign affairs; and Guatemalan Secretary of State Fernando Cruz.

The collection also contains cartographic sketches; sextant observations of Guatemalan localities; minutes of conferences with Rock’s counterpart Manuel E. Pastrana, chief of the Mexican Boundary Commission; and copied excerpts from speeches by Mexican President Porforio Diaz.

There are two oversize items: a letter copying book that contains Rock’s notes; and a hand-drawn map depicting the part of the way between Sacluc, Guatemala, and Tenosique, Mexico, immediate to the line of division between the two countries.

Over half the materials in the collection, including many of Rock's own letters, are in Spanish. The other materials are in English.