Guide to the Burgess Family Papers

Paul Burgess (1886-1958) and Dora McLaughlin Burgess (1887-1962) were appointed as missionaries to Guatemala by the PCUSA in 1912 and served there until their retirement in 1956. Paul Burgess was a graduate of Colorado College (1908) and McCormick Theological Seminary (1911) and also studied at the Universities of Marburg and Berlin. Dora McLaughlin Burgess graduated from Washburn College in 1909.

The Burgesses arrived in Quezaltenango, Guatemala, in 1913 and performed general evangelistic work until 1932. They were responsible for opening up missionary work among the Spanish-speaking population in the isolated northwest highlands. Dora Burgess engaged in visitation and itineration work in the mountain villages.

In 1932, Paul and Dora Burgess resigned their positions and amidst considerable controversy, decided to commence work with the Quiche Indians, a large but generally neglected segment of the Guatemalan population. They reduced the Quiche language to a modern written form, learned it and began producing Christian literature in it. In 1940, against the advice of the Presbyterian Mission, they founded one of the pioneer ecumenical projects in Latin America, the Quiche Bible Institute. This institution was established to provide spiritual training for the more than 300,000 Quiche Indians living in Guatemala.

In addition to their teaching and evangelistic work, Paul and Dora Burgess spent a prodigious amount of time engaged in literary work. Their writings transcended a variety of subjects, reflecting their interests in Christian socialism, political and church history, missionary work, folklore, hymnology and theology. Paul Burgess also founded in 1915 El Noticiero Evangelico, a monthly magazine featuring local and world church news, and edited from 1922-23 El Mensajero Evangelico. The Burgesses also translated a number of materials into the Spanish and Quiche languages, including the New Testament, hymnals and miscellaneous Sunday School literature.