Guide to the Latin American Manuscripts in the University of Texas Library

Guide to the Latin American Manuscripts: As stated in the abstract, this Finding Aid is the online version of the previously-published, which inventories the contents of three of the Benson's most prominent manuscript collections: the WB Stephens Collection, the Joaquín García Icazbalceta Collection, and the Genaro Garcia Collection. The original, print copy of the Guide may be found in the Benson’s Rare Books and Manuscripts Reading Room.

Guide: At the time the original was published, the University of Texas did not have subject-specific libraries, and the Benson had not been established as its own repository. As a result, several of the manuscripts originally inventoried below have since been moved to the Briscoe Center for American History (as indicated in item-level description). In 2017, this online verion of the Guide was updated to reflect the present-day location of each inventoried manuscript as well as the specific collection each manuscript belongs to.

Guide: The original transcription of theis written below:

"The present Guide is a complete list up to date of the manuscript sources in the University of Texas for the study of the history and culture of Latin America and the former provinces of Spain within the present limits of the United States.¹ It represents the accumulation of over a million pages of original manuscripts, transcripts, typed copies, and photostats gathered during the past forty years, to which additions are being made in an effort to create a more extensive and truly representative collection of sources for the use of students interested in the history, institutional development, and culture of the republics to the south of the Rio Grande.

The beginnings of the Latin American Collection may be said to date from 1899, when the Commissioners' Court of Bexar County transferred to the University of Texas the rich records kept by Spanish and Mexican officials in San Antonio from the earliest years of Spanish domination to 1836. These total approximately 205,000 pages. Under the dynamic influence of Prof. Herbert E. Bolton the collection grew rapidly in the early years of the century. The systematic copying of sources in the Archivo General de la Nación in Mexico City was begun in 1898 and extended to other depositories such as the Museo, the Biblioteca Nacional, and the various government departments. Interest widened rapidly and the monumental Archivo General de Indias in Seville was tapped for its invaluable sources, as well as the archives of France and England. To round out the search, provincial archives in Mexico were investigated for materials relative to Texas and the Spanish Southwest. Most of the documents were selected by E. C. Barker, Charles W. Hackett, W. E. Dunn, Charles H. Cunningham, and France V. Scholes.

The first significant step towards building a special Latin American Collection, however, was the purchase of the Genaro García Library in 1921 from the heirs of the distinguished Mexican historian and bibliophile. In addition to its 25,000 printed items, the García collection includes approximately 300,000 pages of manuscript sources, containing materials of great interest to students of Latin American history and culture. They range in point of time from the years prior to the conquest of Mexico to the election of the ill-fated President álvaro Obregón in 1920.

In the years that followed, numerous transcripts and photostat copies of documents were added, chiefly pertaining to the Spanish Southwest. The most notable addition to the García Library up to 1934 was the 1931 gift of the Justin H. Smith Papers [1931] comprising some 10,000 pages of notes and documents copied by the industrious historian of The War with Mexico in the archives in Washington, Mexico City, Spain, France, and England during a period of many years of laborious research.

In 1937 the University was fortunate in purchasing practically the complete collection of manuscripts of Joaquín García Icazbalceta. These were described by the great bibliographer and scholar of sixteenth century Mexicana in a catalogue prepared by himself and published after his death by Gómez de Orozco.² This precious collection of rare manuscripts consists of appróximately 50,000 pages of. documentary sources, of which about 18,000 are sixteenth century originals. While it is true that García Icazbalceta and his son Luis García Pimentel published a goodly number of the early manuscripts; the originals are still invaluable to the critical student of that fascinating century of Mexican history when two civilizations were fused in the intense heat of a bloody and ruthless struggle.

The most recent acquisition was the W.B. Stephens Collection purchased in 1938. Mr. Stephens, long connected with the Huasteca Oil Company in Mexico, succeeded in amassing a remarkable group of rare books and manuscripts dealing with the early history of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California in particular. Demetrio S. García, a Mexican bibliophile and antiquarian, said of Mr. Stephens:"He was a discriminate collector and an indefatigable student of the role played by Spain in California, New Mexico, Texas, and the Interior Provinces, whose solid historical knowledge concerning these regions of New Spain justly made a specialist." His collection comprises some 1200 printed items and over 20,000 pages of manuscript sources, whose value for the study of the early history of Mexico and the Spanish Southwest may be best judged from the documents listed in the present Guide.

¹With the exception of the Manuel Gondra papers, which were acquired after the present Guide was prepared.

²Federico Gómez de Orozco, Catalogo de la coleccion de manuscritos de Joaquín García Icazbalceta relativos a la historia de America. Monografias bibliograficas mexicanas, No. 9. Secretaria de Relaciones Exteriores, Mexico, 1927. XV, 287 p.

ARRANGEMENT

All the documents in these collections, as well as those in the Archives Collection of the University, relative to Spain, her island possessions, and her colonies in North and South America, including the provinces that now form part of the United States, have been included in this list. The arrangement adopted is alphabetical by geographic areas. Thus all documents have been entered under nine main headings: California, Central America, Florida, Mexico, New Mexico, Philippines, South America, Spain, and Texas. The arrangement within each division is likewise alphabetical. In the case of Central America, Mexico, South America, and Spain, subheadings have been used for the minor geographical divisions. In one instance, under the main heading Mexico a topical subdivision was made for Literature. This, however, is the only exception. The ending of all sub-sections and a return to the alphabetical arrangement is indicated by asterisks.

The documents have generally been entered under author or title within each subdivision. Author entries are frequently under the name by which the individuals were most commonly known (i.e., Santa Anna); in such cases double entries will be found in the Index (i.e., López de Santa Anna). The original spelling, accentuation, and punctuation have been preserved in all original titles; in made-up titles, however, modern usage is followed. In the case of formal title pages, line endings have been indicated. After each document the number of leaves or pages and the size have been given, the presence of illustrations or maps noted, and their size indicated whenever it differs from that of the manuscript. Immediately following these data occurs the bracketed symbol of the collection to which the document belongs. A complete list of these symbols may be found on page [toward the end of the document]. The descriptive comments have been reduced to a minimum, leaving the reader to infer the content or value of the document from the author, title, and date. An effort has been made to indicate whenever possible whether the document has been printed and to note in such cases the essential bibliographical data. Where reference is made more than once to a printed item an abbreviation has been used. A complete list of these abbreviations will be found [toward the end of the document].

Although the arrangement adopted in listing the documents has in a measure brought together related materials on different subjects within certain geographic areas and the works of given authors, nevertheless a detailed alphabetical index has been added to facilitate the use of the Guide and to complete the coordination of the materials presented.

Every document listed has been carefully examined and the title compared with the original by the editors before being entered in the Guide. All precautions to avoid error and to insure accuracy have been taken, but we are both certain that mistakes have escaped our attention. For all such errors we crave the indulgence of those who are familiar with the tedious work of listing manuscripts.

* * * *

Sincere acknowledgments are due to Mr. Donald Coney, Librarian, Mr. E. W. Winkler, Bibliographer, and Dr. Charles W. Hackett, Professor of Latin American History, all of the University of Texas, for suggestions, criticism, and encouragement. Similar thanks are due to Miss Winnie Allen, Archivist, for her assistance in listing materials in the Archives Collection.

To the Committee on Latin American Studies of the American Council of Learned Societies and to the University of Texas, who have made possible the publication of this Guide, and to Prof. Clarence H. Haring of Harvard University, we wish to express our sincere appreciation. Finally, we gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Dr. Marlaline W. Nichols, Research Assistant of the Committee on Latin American Studies, who has helped to prepare the volume for the press.

CARLOS E. CASTAñEDA, Latin American Librarian, University of Texas

JAC. K AUTREY DABBS, Adjunct Professor of Spanish, St. Edward's University

Austin, Texas, September 1939"