Descriptive Summary
Acquisition Information
Preferred Citation
Publication Rights
Biography
Scope and Content of Collection
Descriptive Summary
Title: Margarita Melville Papers
Identifier/Call Number: MSS 0272
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla, California, 92093-0175
Languages:
Spanish; Castilian
Physical Description:
5.6 Linear feet
(14 archives boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1964 - 2003
Abstract: Papers of Margarita Melville, a former Maryknoll sister and human rights activist, that document revolutionary movements in
Guatemala from the 1960s through 1993. Revolutionary groups represented in the collection include Fuerzas Armadas Rebeldes
(FAR), Guatemala Human Rights Commission and the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca (URNG). The collection mainly
consists of subject files, fliers and newsletters published by activists and revolutionary groups, with an additional series
related to Thomas Melville's book about Ron Hennessey,
Through a Glass Darkly: The U.S. Holocaust in Central America.
Creator:
Melville, Margarita B., 1929-
Creator:
Melville, Thomas
Acquisition Information
Acquired 2005, 2012.
Preferred Citation
Margarita Melville Papers, MSS 0272. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.
Publication Rights
Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.
Biography
Margarita Melville (née Marian Peter) was born in 1929 in Irapuato, Guanajuato, Mexico. She joined the Catholic Maryknoll
Sisters in St. Louis, Mo. in 1949; attended Mary Rogers College in Ossining, N.Y. and graduated with a bachelor of education
degree in 1954. She was sent by her order that year to Jacaltenango, a remote community in Huehuetenango in Guatemala's western
highlands. Melville started a number of the Maryknoll Sisters' key social programs including Girl Scout troops and an experimental
school called Monte Maria. Beginning in 1966, she began to associate with members of rebel groups in Guatemala, including
FAR (Fuerzas Armadas Rebeldes), the military wing of the Guatemalan Labor (Communist) Party or PGT. Her work with these groups
continued until 1967, when the Maryknoll Sisters supervisor expelled Melville and a few others from Guatemala for their activism.
She married Thomas R. Melville, a former Catholic Maryknoll priest, who had worked in Guatemala for ten years before also
being expelled in 1967 by Guatemalan and Church authorities for his role in planning the formation of a Christian unit to
graft onto the guerrilla movement that was fighting Guatemala's military rulers. Together the Melvilles participated in anti-war
activities, burning selective service records in Baltimore, Md., and became part of a group known as the Catonsville Nine.
Melville graduated with a M.A. in Latin American studies and Ph.D. in Anthropology from the American University, Washington,
D.C. She joined the University of Houston in 1976, where she continued her work as an activist for women's and Chicano causes.
She left the University of Houston for the University of California, Berkeley in 1986, where she has been a Professor and
Associate Dean. Melville is the author of
Twice A Minority: Mexican American Women (1980), while Thomas Melville wrote
Through A Glass Darkly: The U.S. Holocaust in Central America (2005), the story of Ron Hennessey, an American Catholic priest in Guatemala.
Scope and Content of Collection
Papers of Margarita Melville, a former Maryknoll sister and human rights activist, that document revolutionary movements in
Guatemala from the 1960s through 1993. Revolutionary groups represented in the collection include Fuerzas Armadas Rebeldes
(FAR), Guatemala Human Rights Commission and the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca (URNG). The collection mainly
consists of subject files, fliers and newsletters published by activists and revolutionary groups, with an additional series
related to Thomas Melville's book about Ron Hennessey,
Through a Glass Darkly: The U.S. Holocaust in Central America (2005).
Arranged in seven series: 1) CORRESPONDENCE, 2) ORGANIZATIONS, 3) NEWSLETTERS AND BULLETINS, 4) SUBJECT FILES, 5) WRITINGS
OF OTHERS, 6) ORIGINALS OF PRESERVATION PHOTOCOPIES and 7) THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Fuerzas Armadas Rebeldes (Guatemala).
Maryknoll Sisters.
Melville, Margarita B., 1929- -- Archives
Communisim -- Guatemala
Guatemala -- Politics and government -- 1945-1985
Guerrillas -- Guatemala