James W. Wessman

My current research concerns protestant missionaries in Guatemala in the 1880s and 1890s. The first Presbyterian missionary came to Guatemala in 1882, followed by three others before the end of the century. Of the four, three were pressured to resign by the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in New York City, while the fourth remained in Guatemala until 1947. I am attempting to construct an ethnography of the mission, based upon correspondence between Guatemala City and New York City, mission and board reports, and archival sources. For this purpose, I spent a period in Guatemala City in the summer of 1999. A book-length manuscript is in preparation, under the tentative title, A BURNT-OVER FIELD: THE PRESBYTERIAN MISSION IN GUATEMALA, 1882-1903.

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