Collection Guide
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Gómez de Orozco (Federico) Collection on the Establishment of Spanish Missions in California, New Mexico, and other Southwest
Territories
MS.1929.008
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Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
Title: Federico Gómez de Orozco Collection on the Establishment of Spanish Missions in California, New Mexico, and Other Southwest
Territories
source:
Rosenbach Company
source:
Gómez de Orozco, Federico
Identifier/Call Number: MS.1929.008
Physical Description:
2 boxes
(.83 linear feet)
Date (inclusive): 1595-1829
Language of Material:
Spanish; Castilian
.
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.
This collection also includes various descriptions of interactions between Spanish officials and missionaries with local Indigenous
communities, such as the Pima, Ute (Yuca), Comanche, Moqui, Navajo (Dine), and Kumeyaay (Diegueno). Within the collection,
there are many accounts of successful Indigenous uprisings against European settlers.
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.
Gómez de Orozco was great friends with colleague Manual Toussaint, a Mexican art historian and academic with whom he founded
the Art Laboratory of the UNAM. He was also a member of important national societies such as the Sociedad de Geografía y Estadística,
Society of America, and Société des Americanistes y Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas.
Most of his published works include scholarly articles, monographs, prologues, bibliographies, and magazine articles. The
documents in this collection come from an early collection of Gómez de Orozco, but he collected more material over the course
his life. Most of his collections remain in Mexico and are kept in the Biblioteca del Instituto Nacional de Antropología e
Historia.
This collection was acquired by the Clark Library in December 1929 from bookseller A.S.W. Rosenbach. Rosenbach had purchased
the collection earlier that year from scholar Federico Gómez de Orozco, through an intermediary.
This collection was previously physically processed and cataloged in a paper inventory at the Clark Library sometime before
1995. Until 2023, it was known by the call number "Mss Mexican" and the collection name "Mexican Manuscripts" and there was
no online finding aid to the collection.
The collection was fully reprocessed and described by Chanel Viera in 2023.
Existence and Location of Copies
Digitized material from this collection is available via Calisphere, but has not been recataloged or redescribed. Calisphere
records may contain inaccurate descriptions of the material and/or offensive terminology.
For Calisphere collection, click here.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Rosenbach Company
Gómez de Orozco, Federico