The Yale University Collection of Latin American Manuscripts contains an extremely rich and varied assortment of original and copied manuscripts from Mexico, Peru and other areas of Latin America. The material relates primarily to the civil and religious history of Mexico and Peru, but covers the rest of Latin America as well. Those who have used the collection consider it to be a premier Latin American archive in the U.S. and one of the best in the world.
In order to make this prestigious archive available to a new generation of researchers, Primary Source Microfilm will publish The Yale University Collection of Latin American Manuscripts, known as Series II, which will include 191 bound manuscripts covering Latin American and particularly Mexican and Peruvian history from the 16th through the 19th centuries. The Latin American volumes cover a wide range of topics. Many of these relate to Catholic church missions, such as one volume of original letters dating to 1649 from the diocese of Los Angeles -- now the city in California, then an outpost of New Spain -- detailing the first Spanish settlements there.
The collection also includes original and never-before-seen records of tributes paid by Indians that evidence the early colonial economy of the Americas. A wide variety of government documents demonstrate how the first Spanish viceroyalties were administered. They include account books of the first mining industries and richly illustrated volumes recording early explorations of the Andes. Among the rarest and most valuable materials are original, signed letters from the liberators of Latin America: Simon Bolivar, Bernardo O'Higgins and Jose de San Martin.
A printed guide -- with original essays by Sabine P. Hyland, Ph.D. and Noble David Cook, Ph.D. that detail the use of this collection by students and faculty -- will accompany publication of the microfilm.
Complete Collection: 102 reels in 7 parts:
Part 1: Unit 1, Andean, 13 reels
Part 1: Unit 2, Andean, 9 reels
Part 2, Unit 1, Mexico, 30 reels
Part 2, Unit 2, Mexico, 33 reels
Part 3, Unit 1, Spain, 9 reels
Part 3, Unit 2, Spain, 2 reels
Part 4, Unit 1, Brazil, 1 reel
Part 5, Unit 1, Caribbean, 3 reels
Part 6, Unit 1, Central America, 1 reel
Part 7, South Cone, 1 reel