This paper aims to provide a concise account of the progress made in the study of the correspondence sustained over nearly three decades (1962- 1991) between the Argentine linguist María Beatriz Fontanella de Weinberg, professor and researcher at the Universidad Nacional del Sur (Bahía Blanca), and her colleague —and in many regards mentor— Guillermo Guitarte, who at the start of their epistolary exchange was already based abroad, first briefly in Colombia and then in the United States. These letters not only document the exchange concerning the specific research issues of both correspondents, but also their perception of the conditions that would allow for the institutionalization of scientific practice in the area of linguistics in the country during the period in question.

This paper aims to provide a concise account of the progress made in the study of the correspondence sustained over nearly three decades (1962- 1991) between the Argentine linguist María Beatriz Fontanella de Weinberg, professor and researcher at the Universidad Nacional del Sur (Bahía Blanca), and her colleague —and in many regards mentor— Guillermo Guitarte, who at the start of their epistolary exchange was already based abroad, first briefly in Colombia and then in the United States. These letters not only document the exchange concerning the specific research issues of both correspondents, but also their perception of the conditions that would allow for the institutionalization of scientific practice in the area of linguistics in the country during the period in question.

This paper aims to provide a concise account of the progress made in the study of the correspondence sustained over nearly three decades (1962- 1991) between the Argentine linguist María Beatriz Fontanella de Weinberg, professor and researcher at the Universidad Nacional del Sur (Bahía Blanca), and her colleague —and in many regards mentor— Guillermo Guitarte, who at the start of their epistolary exchange was already based abroad, first briefly in Colombia and then in the United States. These letters not only document the exchange concerning the specific research issues of both correspondents, but also their perception of the conditions that would allow for the institutionalization of scientific practice in the area of linguistics in the country during the period in question.