Papers of historian James Ralston Scobie, an author, educator, and scholar of Latin American history. The bulk of the collection consists of research files and publication materials relating to his study of the the social and economic development of major Argentine cities, including extensive data in the form of census documents, notes, photographs, maps, and bibliographies.

James Ralston Scobie was born in Valparaiso, Chile, in 1929. He graduated from Princeton University in 1950, and fulfilled both his Master's (1951) and Ph.D. of history at Harvard University (1954). Scobie spent three years in the U.S. Army Intelligence Corps in Germany and was a part-time instructor in the University of Maryland's overseas program before joining the faculty at the University of California, Berkeley, 1957 to 1964. He then joined the department of history at Indiana University, Bloomington, serving as director of the Latin American Studies Program from 1964-1967, and as chairman of the history department from 1970-1974. In 1967 Scobie married historian Ingrid Winthur. He also was a visiting scholar of Latin American studies at Columbia University (1963-1963) and at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton University (1974-1975). In 1977, he moved from Indiana to the UC San Diego department of history, where he remained until his sudden death in 1981.

21.5 Linear feet (29 archives boxes, 7 records carton boxes, 6 card file boxes, 3 map case folders, and 1 flat box)

Publication rights are held by the Regents of the University of California.

COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE. ALLOW ONE WEEK FOR RETRIEVAL OF MATERIALS.