Joaquín García Icazbalceta Manuscript Collection

The collection pertains to Spain's colonies in the Americas and the Philippines. Colonial governance, indigenous peoples and languages, Spanish conquerors, the Catholic Church and the Inquisition, Juan de Palafox y Mendoza's conflicts with viceroy Diego López Pacheco Escalona and the Jesuits, voyages by Spanish explorers to the South Pacific, and drainage of the Valley of Mexico are among the topics documented. The bulk of the collection is comprised of literary productions, legal and official documents, correspondence, government records, church and convent records, diaries, inventories and lists, maps and drawings, financial documents, and printed documents. Included in the collection are 42 original sixteenth-century relaciones geográficas, as well as codices, Nahuatl dictionaries and bilingual textbooks for religious instruction of Indigenous peoples. The items are arranged in four different series: Colección de Manuscritos, Relativos a la Historia de América; Varias Relaciones; Manuscritos; and Primeros Libros.

Colección de Manuscritos, Relativos a la Historia de América is comprised of a 33 volume collection of bound manuscripts. Materials pertain to the colonial history of the Americas, beginning with the arrival of Spanish conquistadors in the 16th century. The collection was published and assembled by García Icazbalceta in the 19th century and features original documents as well as reproductions created by García Icazbalceta. Notable in this series are 43 relaciones geográficas located in volumes XII, XX, and XXIII through XXV, original manuscripts and maps created in response to the first survey of New Spain by King Philip II, including historical, cultural, and geographical information about the region in the 16th century. All 43 relaciones geográficas have been digitized and are available for viewing in the UT Libraries Collections Portal. Links to the digital surrogates are provided in the inventory.

Varias Relaciones consists of two volumes entitled Varias relaciones, 1610-1703, contain over 200 printed or handwritten reports of events in Europe, the Americas, and Asia. This series will be described in greater detail at a later date.

Manuscritos contains remaining collected manuscripts. Of note, item [JGI 1184] is a 7 volume collection of materials about the history of Mexico City’s drainage system. This item will be described in greater detail at a later date.

Primeros libros contains 41 of the 220 first books printed in the Americas before 1601. Digitized versions of all 41 are available at primeroslibros.org. Links to individual item pages are provided in the inventory list.

The materials are primarily in Spanish; some items are in Latin, Nahuatl and other Indigenous languages, Italian, and French.