Tonatiúh and Electra Gutiérrez collection of maps and images of the Americas, 1523-1904

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Summary

Creators:

Gutiérrez, Electra, Coronelli, Vincenzo, 1650-1718, Sanson, Nicolas, 1600-1667, Bellin, Jacques Nicolas, 1703-1772, Hogenberg, Frans, approximately 1539-1590, Blaeu, Willem Janszoon, 1571-1638, Vecellio, Cesare, approximately 1521-1601, Hondius, Jodocus, 1563-1612, Ortelius, Abraham, 1527-1598, Popple, Henry, -1743, García Cubas, Antonio, 1832-1912, Gutiérrez, Tonatiúh, 1929-, Picart, Bernard, 1673-1733, Moll, Herman, -1732, Fierro, Pancho, 1807-1879, Robert de Vaugondy, Gilles, 1688-1766, Bonne, Rigobert, 1727-1794, and Vandermaelen, Philippe, 1795-1869

Abstract:

The Tonatiúh and Electra Gutiérrez collection of maps and images of the Americas spans more than three centuries and includes maps of North and South America, several world maps, and iconography of life, fauna and rituals in the Americas. It was assembled by the Gutiérrezes as they researched the early history and exploration of the Americas.

Extent:

42.48 Linear Feet (24 boxes, 20 flatfile folders)

Language:

Collection material is in Spanish, French, German, English and Latin.

Preferred citation:

Tonatiúh and Electra Gutiérrez collection of maps and images of the Americas, 1523-1904, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. P840001.

http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifap840001

Background

Scope and content:

The Tonatiúh and Electra Gutiérrez collection includes historic maps of the Americas spanning more than three centuries, with an emphasis on Mexico and the region of Mesoamerica. The Gutiérrezes assembled this collection as they researched the early history and exploration of the Americas and used it to illustrate their publications.

Included are more than 350 maps by cartographers, geographers and publishers from Flanders, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Spain, England, and the Americas, including Frans Hogenberg, Abraham Ortelius, Jodocus Hondius, Willem Janszoon Blaeu, Vincenzo Maria Coronelli, Nicolas and Guillaume Sanson, Jacques-Nicolas Bellin, Herman Moll, Henry Popple, and Antonio García Cubas.

In addition, the collection includes images of life, fauna, landscapes, cities and rituals in the Americas, historical scenes, and portrait prints of leaders from the Americas and European explorers. Included are plates from Cesare Vecellio's Habiti antichi e moderni di tutto il mondo... (Venice, 1598), plates from Bernard Picart's Ceremonies et coutumes religieuses des peuples idolatres (Amsterdam, 1723-1743), and watercolors by the Peruvian artist Pancho Fierro (Francisco Fierro Palas).

For item-level records of rare books, prints, watercolors and maps in the collection, search the Library Catalog for the phrase "Gutiérrez Collection." Gutiérrez Collection numbers for maps are listed below in the inventory.

Biographical / historical:

Tonatiúh Gutiérrez was the son of a high Mexican government official who served during the years of President Lázaro Cárdenas. An Olympic swimmer in his youth, Gutiérrez became a professor of economics at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), as well as promoter of the popular and traditional arts. During the 1960s he was the director of expositions of the National Tourist Council of Mexico, and in the 1970s served as the head of the Fideicomiso para el Fomento de las Artesanías (later known as Fondo Nacional para el Fomento de Artesanías, FONART), an important state trust for the promotion of folk art. Electra López Mompradé de Gutiérrez was the daughter of Spanish republicans exiled to Mexico in 1939. She became an expert in pre-Columbian dance and dress and Mexican culture and history. The couple lived in the district of Coyoacán in Mexico City until Gutiérrez's death after which Mompradé moved to Spain.

Gutiérrez and Mompradé were considered important collectors and dedicated decades of their lives to researching and publishing books concerning popular culture, folklore, art, geography and history of Mexico and the Americas. Proficient in multiple languages, they conducted research in various cities throughout the Americas and Europe, including Mexico City, San Diego, San Francisco, Austin, Madrid, Paris, and London. As scholars, they co-authored the majority of their works and wrote important monographs on the history of Mexico, in particular its iconography and cartography.

Acquisition information:

Acquired in 1984.

Processing information:

The collection was partially processed in 1997. In 2013, Ednar Segura completed the processing and the arrangement of the collection and wrote this finding aid under the supervision of Andra Darlington and Karen Meyer-Roux. Item-level cataloging of the maps, prints and watercolors in the Research Library's online catalog by Ednar Segura and Clarice De Veyra.

Arrangement:

Arranged in two series: Series I. Maps, 1523-1904; Series II. Images, 1535-circa 1900.

Physical location:

Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the catalog record for this collection. Click here for the access policy.

Rules or conventions:

Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Indexed terms

Subjects:: Prints -- Collectors and collecting
Mexico -- Social life and customs
Maps -- Collectors and collecting
Mexico -- Maps
Cartography
South America -- Social life and customs
North America -- Maps
South America -- Maps
North America -- Social life and customs
Prints
Maps

Access and use

Restrictions:: Open for use by qualified researchers.
Terms of access:: Contact Library Reproductions and Permissions.