Part one of this reference book contains a bibliography for over 7,000 titles of articles and books by more than 4,000 authors covering volumes 1-11 of The Handbook of Middle American Indians, an encyclopedia set that presents information about the environment, archeology, ethnology, social anthropology, ethnohistory, linguistics and physical anthropology of the native peoples of Mexico and Central America. Part two of this book presents the abbreviations used for the names of the owners of the various artifacts cited in volumes 1-11. It also provides an index of the artifacts, and their owners that are found in the encyclopedia. Lastly, the second part of this reference also lists the locations of the artifacts illustrated, in the order of their appearance within the encyclopedia.

Volumes 14 and 15 of the Handbook of Middle American Indians, published in cooperation with the Middle American Research Institute of Tulane University under the general editorship of Robert Wauchope (1909–1979), constitute Parts 3 and 4 of the Guide to Ethnohistorical Sources. The Guide has been assembled under the volume editorship of the late Howard F. Cline, Director of the Hispanic Foundation in the Library of Congress, with Charles Gibson, John B. Glass, and H. B. Nicholson as associate volume editors. It covers geography and ethnogeography (Volume 12); sources in the European tradition (Volume 13); and sources in the native tradition: prose and pictorial materials, checklist of repositories, title and synonymy index, and annotated bibliography on native sources (Volumes 14 and 15). The present volumes contain the following studies on sources in the native tradition: “A Survey of Native Middle American Pictorial Manuscripts,” by John B. Glass “A Census of Native Middle American Pictorial Manuscripts,” by John B. Glass in collaboration with Donald Robertson “Techialoyan Manuscripts and Paintings, with a Catalog,” by Donald Robertson “A Census of Middle American Testerian Manuscripts,” by John B. Glass “A Catalog of Falsified Middle American Pictorial Manuscripts,” by John B. Glass “Prose Sources in the Native Historical Tradition,” by Charles Gibson and John B. Glass “A Checklist of Institutional Holdings of Middle American Manuscripts in the Native Historical Tradition,” by John B. Glass “The Botutini Collection,” by John B. Glass “Middle American Ethnohistory: An Overview” by H. B. Nicholson The Handbook of Middle American Indians was assembled and edited at the Middle American Research Institute of Tulane University with the assistance of grants from the National Science Foundation and under the sponsorship of the National Research Council Committee on Latin American Anthropology.

Guide to Ethnohistorical Sources comprises Volumes 12 through 15 of the Handbook of Middle American Indians, published in cooperation with the Middle American Research Institute of Tulane University under the general editorship of Robert Wauchope (1909–1979). The Guide has been assembled under the volume editorship of the late Howard F. Cline, Director of the Hispanic Foundation in the Library of Congress, with Charles Gibson, John B. Glass, and H. B. Nicholson as associate volume editors. It covers geography and ethnogeography, especially the Relaciones Geográficas (Volume 12); sources in the European tradition: printed collections, secular and religious chroniclers, biobibliographies (Volume 13); sources in the native tradition: prose and pictorial materials, checklist of repositories, title and synonymy index, and annotated bibliography on native sources (Volumes 14 and 15). Volume 12, which is Part One of the Guide, contains the following: “Introduction: Reflections on Ethnohistory,” “Introductory Notes on Territorial Divisions of Middle America,” “Viceroyalty to Republics, 1786–1952: Historical Notes on the Evolution of Middle American Political Units,” “Ethnohistorical Regions of Middle America,” “The Relaciones Geográficas of the Spanish Indies, 1577–1648,” “A Census of the Relaciones Geográficas of New Spain, 1579–1616,” and “The Relaciones Geográficas of Spain, New Spain, and the Spanish Indies: An Annotated Bibliography,” all the foregoing by Howard F. Cline. In addition it includes: “Colonial New Spain, 1519–1786: Historical Notes on the Evolution of Minor Political Jurisdictions” by Peter Gerhard; “The Pinturas (Maps) of the Relaciones Geográficas, with a Catalog” by Donald Robertson; “The Relaciones Geográficas, 1579–1586: Native Languages” by H. R. Harvey; and “The Relaciones Geográficas of Mexico and Central America, 1740–1792” by Robert C. West. The Handbook of Middle American Indians was assembled and edited at the Middle American Research Institute of Tulane University with the assistance of grants from the National Science Foundation and under the sponsorship of the National Research Council Committee on Latin American Anthropology.

Archaeological Frontiers and External Connections is the fourth volume in the Handbook of Middle American Indians, published in cooperation with the Middle American Research Institute of Tulane University under the general editorship of Robert Wauchope (1909–1979). Volume editors are Gordon R. Willey (1913–2002), Bowditch Professor of Mexican and Central American Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University, and Gordon F. Ekholm (1909–1987), Associate Curator of Mexican Archaeology of the American Museum of Natural History in New York. This volume presents an intensive study of matters of significance in various areas: archaeology and ethnohistory of the Northern Sierra, Sonora, Lower California, and northeastern Mexico; external relations between Mesoamerica and the southwestern United States and eastern United States; archaeology and ethnohistory of El Salvador, western Honduras, and lower Central America; external relations between Mesoamerica and the Caribbean area, Ecuador, and the Andes; and the case for and against Old World pre-Columbian contacts via the Pacific. Many photographs accompany the text. The Handbook of Middle American Indians was assembled and edited at the Middle American Research Institute of Tulane University with the assistance of grants from the National Science Foundation and under the sponsorship of the National Research Council Committee on Latin American Anthropology.