France V. Scholes Collection, 16th - 18th centuries

277,000 pieces

COLLECTION GUIDE

Prepared by Ruth Olivera, March 1981

The France V. Scholes Collection consists of photoprints, microfilms and typescripts of documents relating to the history of colonial Spanish America found in Spanish and Mexican Archives, principally the Archivo General de Indias in Seville and the Archivo General de la Nacion in Mexico City.

The content of the documentation may be described, in general terms, under the following topical headings:

(1) Documents which illustrate the character of Spanish colonial government and policy in the 16th and early 17th centuries with special reference to Mexico.

(2) Documents which illustrate, in more specific detail, problems and policies of administration of the Indian population of Spanish America (with special emphasis on Mexico) in the 16th to the 18th centuries, and particularly with reference to the encomienda system, forced labor for wages, and chattel slavery.

(3) Materials relating to the Spanish conquest of Mexico and Guatemala, including several thousand pages of photoprints of the probanzas of merits and services of prominent conquistadores (including the Alvarado brothers) and the residencia of Pedro de Alvarado as governor of Guatemala.

(4) Documents which illustrate the life and times of Hernando Cortes from 1521 (the year of his final victory over the Aztec Confederacy) to his death in Spain in 1547. These materials deal principally with the history of events in the chaotic decade of the 1520's, and with the history of the Estate (Marquesado del Valle) founded by Cortes. The documentation on Cortes and his times, 1521-1547, includes the residencias of Cortes, the First Audiencia of Mexico, and early alcaldes mayores of Oaxaca, etc. Scholes considered his collection of Cortes material the most extensive collection of unpublished Cortes documentation in any one place in the world.

(5) Selected documents relating to the history of the Cortes Estate subsequent to 1547, especially with reference to litigation concerning execution of various provisions of Cortes' last will and testament.

(6) Selections from the correspondence of the viceroys and treasury officials of Mexico (16th century), and miscellaneous documents on various topics of the 16th century Mexican history.

(7) Extensive documentation relating to the history of Yucatan and the Maya area in the 16th and 17th centuries. The documentation has value not only for students of colonial Spanish American and Mexican history, but also for those specializing in other disciplines such as anthropology, ethnohistory, and art history.

The corpus of material consists of the following:

(1) 180,000 units of enlargement photoprints from microfilm, or, in a few cases, prints from photostat negatives. The size of these photoprints varies: some are 7 1/2" x 10"; others are letter size (8 1/2" x 11"); but the majority are legal size , i.e., 11" x 14" or 11" x 16". also, it should be noted that most of the photo-enlargement prints (and also films mentioned below) reproduce two pages of manuscript documentation.

(2) 70,000 frames, or exposures, of 35mm. negative microfilm of documents.

(3) 15,000 pages (letter size) of typescripts of documents.

(4) The Archive File consisting of 12,000 to 14,000 cards (4"x 6") which record data concerning content and organization of Spanish and Mexican archives with notations concerning documents reproduced; and also notations concerning documents examined which may be useful for students of colonial Spanish American history.

Access to the documents may be obtained by consulting the 3" x 5" card index of documents descriptions which Scholes prepared. The documents follow the order of this card index. These cards identify the documents by their archive provenance, provide a brief description of the documents or their titles, and indicate the form of reproduction, i.e., photoprints, microfilm, typescripts, or in a few cases, handwritten cards, with the number of photographs, exposures, or pages. They are arranged alphabetically by archive and section, with the Spanish archives first, followed by the Mexican archives, then by other repositories. The arrangement of documents in the filing cabinets and of the microfilm in boxes is in the same order.

The collection consists of reproductions of documents from the following archives and sections. The photoprints are found in the indicated filing cabinets.

Archives of Spain

Filing Cabinet 1.
Archivo de Protocolos, Sevilla (APS) 7 documents.
Archivo General de Indias, Sevilla (AGI) Contaduria, Contratacion.

Filing Cabinet 1-2.
Archivo General de Indias, Sevilla (AGI) Escribania de Camara.

Filing Cabinet 2.
Archivo General de Indias, Sevilla (AGI) Estado, Guadalajara, Guatemala.

Filing Cabinet 3.
Archivo General de Indias, Sevilla (AGI) Indiferente General.

Filing Cabinet 3-12.
Archivo General de Indias, Sevilla (AGI) Justicia.

Filing Cabinet 12-15.
Archivo General de Indias, Sevilla (AGI) Mexico.

Filing Cabinet 16-18.
Archivo General de Indias, Sevilla (AGI) Patronato.

Filing Cabinet 18.
Archivo Historico Nacional, Madrid (AHN) Cartas de Indias, Inquisicion, Ordenes Militares.
Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid (BN) 5 documents.
Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid (RAH) Coleccion Muñoz, Coleccion Vargas Ponce, 5 other documents.

Archives of Mexico

Filing Cabinet 18.
Archivo General de la Nacion (AGN) Alcaldes Mayores, Archivo Historico de Hacienda, Bienes Nacionales, Civil, Clero, Congregacion, Cruzada, Historia.

Filing Cabinet 19-21
Archivo General de la Nacion (AGN) Hospital de Jesus.

Filing Cabinet 21
Archivo General de la Nacion (AGN) Indiferente General, Indios, Inquisicion, Mercedes.

Filing Cabinet 22
Archivo General de la Nacion (AGN) Ordenanzas, Real Acuerdo, Real Hacienda, Reales Cedulas (Originales; Duplicados).

Filing Cabinet 22-23
Archivo General de la Nacion (AGN) Tierras.

Filing Cabinet 23
Archivo General de la Nacion (AGN) Vinculos.
Archivo Parroquial de la Catedral de Merida, Yucatan. Libro de Bautismos y Matrimonios.
Archivos Parroquiales de Campeche, Campeche. Libro de bautizos, matrimonios, etc.
Biblioteca Nacional, Mexico, Archivo Franciscano.
Museo Nacional, Mexico. Matricula de Tributos.

Other Libraries and Collections

Filing Cabinet 23
Bancroft Library. 5 documents.
L.C. Harkness Collection of Spanish Mss. concerning Mexico. 9 documents.
John Carter Brown Library, Providence, R.I. 1 document.
Newberry Library, Chicago. Ayer Collection.

Books

Filing Cabinet 23
Agia, P. Fray Miguel (OFM) Tratado concering personal services of Indians in Spanish America. Lima, 1604.
Martinez Gracida, Manuel, ed. Coleccion de Cuadros Sinopticos de los pueblos, haciendas y ranchos del Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca. Oaxaca, 1883.
Silva, Fray Juan de (OFM) Memoriales concerning missionary methods and Indian labor in Spanish America, 1618. (From copy in Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid).

Microfilms

The microfilms duplicate part of the material found in photoprint from, except for a few instances in which the microfilm is the only copy. this information is noted on the cards of the index of document descriptions. The content of the 28 boxes of microfilm are as follows:

Box 1. AGI:

Contaduria. (1 reel) (Leg. 806) Testimony on encomiendas, residenciasetc. 17th century.
Escribania de Camara (5 reels) (Leg. 163A, 204A, no.7, 304B, no.5, 308B pieza 30). Indians affairs in Yucatan. 16th century.
Guatemala (7 reels) (Leg.151-153) Opening road from Campeche to Guatemala and reduccin of Indians. 17th century.

Box 2. AGI: Guatemala (Leg.343)

Indiferente. (1 reel) (Leg.81) Royal Crown takes over encomiendas. 1667-1750.
Justicia (81 reels) Lawsuits in New Spain referent to property and Indians. Varias residencias. Early 16th century. (Leg. 3-114).

Box 3. AGI: Justicia (Leg. 115-139).

Box 4. AGI: Justicia (Leg. 141-205, no.4).

Box 5. AGI: Justicia (Leg. 206, no.2- Leg. 234).

Box 6. AGI: Justicia (Leg. 242-712, part I).

Box 7. AGI: Justicia (Leg. 712, part II, Leg. 1017, no.3, ramo 3).

Box 8. AGI: Justicia (Leg. 1017, no.3, ramo 9-Leg. 1144, no.3).

Box 9. AGI: Mexico. Confirmations of encomiendas in New Spain and Yucatan; documents on Hospital de Convalecientes in Mexico. 16th-18th centuries. (Leg. 91-Leg. 242, roll 1).

Box 10. AGI: Mexico (Leg. 243-Leg.362, exp.1090).

Box 11. AGI: Mexico (Leg. 362, exp. 1091- Leg. 901, exp. 1-7).

Box 12. AGI: Mexico (Leg. 902, exp.1,3,4,-Leg. 915, exp. 1-3).

Box 13. AGI: Mexico (Leg. 916-Leg. 941).

Box 14. AGI: Mexico (Leg. 942-Leg. 968).

Box 15. AGI: Mexico (Leg. 969-Leg.995, pieza 1-85).

Box 16. AGI: Mexico (Leg. 995), Patronato (Leg. 182).

Box 17. AGI: Patronato (5 reels) (Leg. 182and 237). Documents referent founding of churches in New Spain, Bishop Zumarraga, road from Yucatan to Guatemala, reduccion of Lacandon Indians, record of taxes due to Crown in 1571. 16th century.

AHN: Biblioteca Nacional
RAH: MS A-57, MS 27-5E-131 Box 18. RAH: Vargas Ponce
El Escorial: Documents on the customs of the Chichimecas Indians and justification of war with them; 1542 list of the men who were conquistors with Cortes, with and without encomiendas of Indians, 16th century. (MSK-111-8, ff.392-418),(MS S-11-7, ff.331-343),(MS S-11-7, ff. 423-456)
AGN: Archivo Histórico de Hacienda, Civil, Clero, Hospital de Jesús (Leg. 235)

Box 19. AGN: Hospital de Jesús (Leg. 247-Leg.264, exp.8)

Box 20. AGN: Hospital de Jesús (Leg. 264, exp.9-Leg. 273, exp.3)

Box 21. AGN: Hospital de Jesús (Leg. 273, exp.5-Leg. 276, exp.85)

Box 22. AGN: Hospital de Jesús (Leg. 276, exp.86-Leg. 285, exp. 99)

Box 23. AGN: Hospital de Jesús (Leg. 288-Leg. 293, exp. 146, 142)

Box 24. AGN: Hospital de Jesús (Leg. 300-Leg.387, exp.9)

Box 25. AGN: Hospital de Jesús (Leg. 394-Leg. 432, exp.1)

Box 26. AGN: Hospital de Jesús (Leg. 432, exp.2), Hospitales; Reales Cedulas Duplicados (vol.120)

Box 27. AGN: Tierras (vol. 39, 1a. parte; vol. 1520, exp.2) Box 28. AGN: Tierras (vol. 3082); Vinculos (vol. 4-276); Martinez Gracida; Bancroft Library, Newberry Library *NOTICE*
Duplication of these microfilms is prohibited. Application for copies must be directed to the original repository.

Scholes Archive Files
The Scholes Archive File consist of some 12,000-14,000 handwritten 4" x 6" cards. It provides a more comprehensive record of the contents of the Spanish and Mexican archives than that recorded in the index file of document descriptions, and contains Scholes' comments concerning these archives and information on documents not included in the collection. The contents of the 13 boxes of the Archive File are as follows:

Box 1. AGI: General Information.

Audiencia-Contaduria. Royal tresury and taxation records for New Spain. 16th-17th centuries. (Leg. 657, no.1-4, ramos 1-4; 659, 660, 911 A & B, 913).

Box 2. AGI: Contratacion. Royal treasury accounts of New Spain, 16th century. (Leg. 1675 A & B).

Box 3. AGI: Guatemala. Documents on the treatment, reduccion od Indians, affairs in Guatemala and Honduras. 16th-17th centuries.

Box 4. AGI: Indiferente. Registries of relaes ordenes. Indian affairs, petitions, personal affairs in New Spain. 16th-17th centuries.

Box 5. AGI: Justicia. Civil and Criminal lawsuits in New Spain, regarding property, money, taxation, grievances and especially encomiendas of Indians, many concern Fernando Cortes, the First Audiencia of New Spain, Nuńo de Guzman, and Pedro de Alvarado. Also the residencias of Cortes, Guzman Alvarado and Others. Early 16th century.

Box 6. AGI: Mexico. Reales Cedulas for New Spain. Letters and official documents of viceroys and oidores of New Spain. Merits and services of conquistadors, tax records, petitions. Papers of government officials of Yucatan and documents regarding Indian labor and affairs. 16th-18th centuries.(Leg. 1-148)

Box 7. AGI: Mexico (Leg. 149-1065)

Box 8. AGI: Mexico (Leg. 1066-3201)

Box 9. AGI: Patronato. Documents regarding founding of cathedral and churches in New Spain, first Bishop Zumarraga and treatment of Indians. Documentation on Cortes, on discoveries, merits and services of conquistadors including those with Cortes, the Alvarado family in Guatemala and Bernal Diaz del Castillo. Information on Dońa Marina and succession of Montezuma. Documents on affairs in Hispaniola and Cuba and road from Yucatan to Guatemala. Records of taxes owed Crown in 1571. 16th century (Leg. 1-179)

Box 10. AGI: Patronato (Leg. 180-294)

AHN

Box 11. AGN: Alcaldes Mayores, Hospital de Jesús

Box 12. AGN: Hospital de Jesús; Reales Cédulas

Box 13. AGN: Reales Cédulas (RCOD)- Tierras; Biblioteca Nacional de México.

Included also are 3 boxes of 4" x 6" "scratch" or temporary cards in Scholes' handwritting. They parallel the material found in the card index.

A few of the documents which are listed in the card index of document descriptions are noted as missing. These documents were either not received from Scholes in the original shipments or were sent back to him for further research and not returned.

*Notice*
See also the Indice de documentos de Nueva Espańa existentes en el Archivo de Indias de Sevilla CD/1859/.S3A57/ vol.1/ cop.2/LAL-RARE. It contains France V. Scholes' notations and correlations with the modern classification in the archive which correspond to many items inthe LAL Scholes Collection.

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Last updated: October 22, 1996