This collection contains the personal papers of Joseph León Helguera, professor of History at Vanderbilt University for 28 years, specializing in Latin American History. A majority of the collection is unprocessed, but a series on the United States Peace Corps-Colombia project circa 1960-1962 is processed and consists of two boxes.

This collection contains numerous manuscripts, legal documents, publications, and photographs collected by J. León Helguera about Latin America and Colombia, specifically. The bulk of the collection dates from the 1700s-1800s.

This collection contains materials in one box about the Cundinamarca, Colombia election of 1859 collected by J. León Helguera.

This .21 linear ft. collection contains correspondence, some handwritten, written by Julius Jacobsen while he worked in Colombia, South America. Most date from 1936-1941. The majority of the letters describe his time in Colombia and business activities.

This collection consists of 6 letters written from Cartagena, Colombia by Jannon, a French merchant, describing revolutionary-era South America. The letters reflect political intensity between supporters of the liberation movement led by Simon Bolivar and those of Vice President Francisco José de Paula Santander y Omaña over Bolivar's attempt to reform the 1821 constitution.

The collection contains journal articles, in pamphlet form, written by Thomas Lynn Smith, a Sociology Professor. The topics range from studies of Southern Culture to social structures in the countries of Brazil, Colombia, and El Salvador..

This collection contains the papers of Zapata Olivella, noted Afro-Colombian novelist, anthropologist, folklorist, physician and playwright who was known throughout Latin America as the “Dean of Black Hispanic Writers.” The collection provides a unique window on the history and society of Colombia and on people of African descent in the Americas as a whole.