COLLECTION GUIDE
Prepared by Joan Walraven, October 1980.
Gates possessed a keen interest in Indian languages, and the majority of such documents (grammars, vocabularies, etc.), some of which were catalogued in the 1930s and 40s under the Dewey decimal system, are not a part of this collection, but are found in the LAL Rare Book Collection.
The items not a part of the Rare Book Collection are arranged chronologically, except for several subcollections which are described in more detail below. By consulting the copy of the Gates auction catalog in the Rare Book Room of the Latin American Library the researcher can determine whether an item is part of the Rare Book Collection or the chronological arrangement. Indian documents under the latter category include an Aztec family manuscript ca. 1590 on native maguey paper relating to Don Gazipari di Buena Ventura and the Aztec Títulos de Coatlinchán dated 1537-1771.
Colonial manuscripts from the sixteenth through the nineteenth centuries are found in both sections of the Gates Collection. A number of these manuscripts pertain to ecclesiastical subjects and include complaints and accusations brought by Indians against local curates of excessive fees, failure to perform required duties, etc.
As a collector, Gates assiduously accumulated documents bearing the signatures of late eighteenth and early nineteenth century Spanish monarchs. Decrees of the Royal Audiencia as well as numerous documents of Mexican viceroys from the sixteenth century through independence are represented. Fortunately for the researcher, Gates paid particular attention to broadsides. The earliest represented are those of the late eighteenth century and furnish information on provisions for forms for matrimony to regulations for fighting fires in Mexico City.
Nineteenth century broadsides portray an interesting picture of the independence struggle. An 1820 decree of Apodaca declared that all who refused to swear to uphold the Constitution are "unworthy [of] the name of Spaniard and [are] to be deprived of all honors and banished."
In addition, nineteenth century Gates documents include several pieces bearing the rare signature of Hidalgo. Of particular import are approximately 45 signed documents and letters of Agustín de Iturbide. Patents, appointments, and broadsides signed by Gómez Farías, Santa Anna, Guadalupe Victoria, Comonfort, and Juárez compose the majority of the nineteenth century materials. A number of patents signed by Santa Anna contain little significant historical information but were obviously collected for the signature.
Nineteenth century manuscripts include several from the early independence era as well as one dated 1838 regarding the Pastry War. Second Empire materials include various documents, letters, and patents of both Maximilian and Juárez. Also represented from this period is Lerdo de Tejada.
Material from the Porfiriato is not as extensive as that of other eras in the Gates Collection. The majority of such material consists of patents signed by Díaz, again, of specialized historical interest, together with several notes and letters bearing the General's signature. Five documents bear the signature of Manuel González.
The Gates Collection is particularly strong on the Mexican revolutionary period. One of the most significant pieces is the Manifesto of San Luis Potosí signed by Francisco I. Madero. Printed on the thinnest onionskin, only ten copies of the Plan were known to be made. Numerous newspaper clippings from the revolutionary years, among the, contemporary Zapatista publications and broadsides of Madero, Zapata, Felix Díaz, Carranza, and others, furnish contemporary information. One notebook of clippings regarding Zapata's death is especially noteworthy, the general tenor of these newspaper accounts being refusal to accept the General's death. Cllippings regarding the petroleum question from both Mexican and American papers reveal the efforts of American companies to protect their interests.
Gates possessed avid interest in Maya culture and the entire Yucatán area, and Revolutionary materials from the peninsula are well represented. Late nineteenth century Yucatecan newspapers, together with significant and informative clippings from the years 1914-19, i.e., the entire Carranza-Alvarado period, are most valuable. Gates perceived the Casa del Obrero Mundial as linked with the I.W.W. and the entire Communist International. This perception explains his description of the above 1914-19 clippings: "This scrapbook not only covers the whole course of the hemp exploitation policy but also gives the official Mexican side of the introduction and establishment of Sovietism, with the aid of German propagandists and with the full cooperation of the whole Carranza-Alvarado regime." Four issues of Nuestra Defensa, the organ of the Independent Association of Hemp Producers, are very revealing of the henequeneros' attitudes towards the changes instituted by Alvarado.
The Diario Oficial of the Constitutionalist Government of the State of Yucatán from Alvarado's entry in 1915 to December, 1917, together with newspaper files, clippings, and numerous broadsides of Alvarado's actions vis-a-vis the hemp producers and the struggle of these hacendados to evade the monopoly of the Comisión Reguladora hold great opportunity for the researcher.
The Gates Collection also includes materials catalogued separately as subcollections: approximately 50 Posada prints, some signed, but the majority "in the style of"; E.G. Squier correspondence, scrapbooks, papers, and drawings pertaining mostly to Central America but also some relating to Peru; a collection of Mexican and a few Central American maps; and 24 double-page copperplate maps of the 17th century, including views of Peru, Brazil, and other South American countries, the West Indies, and Mexico City. In addition, numerous papers and documents pertaining to the Moctezuma family are catalogued as a separate collection.
For listings of individual items see: 1) The William Gates Collection LAL Rare Z997.A5 (auction catalogue prepared by the American Art Association, 1924); and 2) The William Gates Collection LAL Rare 015G257 (publication of the Middle American Research Institute).
See also the inventory (Gates Inventory) for this collection in a separate binder.
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Last updated: October 30, 1996