The Federico Gómez de Orozco collection contains manuscripts and maps dating from 1595-1829 regarding the Spanish settlement and colonization of California, New Mexico, and other portions of what was once New Spain. Most documents here were written by Franciscans and other European officials, and this collection includes detailed accounts of mission expansions in Alta and Baja California, as well as voyages made throughout Mexico in support of Spanish colonial rule and Christianization of native peoples.

Historian and bibliophile Federico Gómez de Orozco was born in Tlalpan, Mexico in 1891 and died on July 18, 1962 in Tizapán, D.F. He was a recognized researcher and professor at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico (UNAM) and taught 16th-17th century Spanish colonial history as well as paleography at UNAM and at the School of Anthropology. With great interest in European colonization in the West and Southwest territories, he built a large collection on the history of Mexico and California. His personal library in his home in Tizapán contained pictographs and documents in relation to Indigenous and European colonial history.

2 boxes (.83 linear feet)