Tulancingo (Hildago, Mexico) Manuscript Collection, 1567-1882

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Summary

Creators:
Grepe, John H.
Abstract:
This collection consists of manuscript documents in Spanish and Nahuatl from the town of Tulancingo (Hidalgo, Mexico). The documents consist primarily of civil litigation case files, but also include a small amount of criminal case files and several government printed broadsides.
Extent:
4 linear feet (8 boxes)
Language:
Materials are in English, Spanish, and Nahuatl.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Tulancingo (Hildago, Mexico) Manuscript Collection (Collection Number 2073). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Background

Scope and content:

Collection consists primarily of civil litigation case files from the district of Tulancingo, Mexico, dating from 1567-1882. The collection is interspersed with a few criminal case files and several government printed broadsides. Some case files also fall under the jurisdiction of Mexico City.

The boxes have been roughly divided according to the date of judgment or arbitration date; however, many files include subsequent notations entered by civil authorities as it related to outstanding matters towards fulfillment of the judgment.

Case files prior to 1837 are notable for revealing the maneuverings of indigenous communities within the legal system, the involvement of women in various business and property disputes, the colonial tribute system, tensions surrounding the War of Independence, and acts of resistance to the colonial regime by native peoples. Some of the more interesting case files include a property dispute involving Martín Cortés, the son of Hernán Cortés, the investigation of an Indian riot, and an Indian woman, who had been a traditional healer, being accused of witchcraft. Case files prior to 1837 contain some documents in Nahuatl.

Case files from 1846 to 1882 deal primarily with probate matters (often including estate inventories and wills), financial disputes between merchants and creditors, and demands for repayment of liens or mortgages. Researchers will find extensive documents with respect to four different actions: probate matters pertaining to the estate of Maria Josefa Ortega, a bankruptcy proceeding against Apolonio Uribarri, a civil dispute involving the Sanchez Hidalgo family, and the dissolution of a commercial partnership involving Spanish merchants Antonio Gayol and Tomas Urrutia. Scholars interested in researching issues of gender and sexuality will find several notable cases, for example, a case involving an older male resident who pursued relations with a younger girl and later denied paternity to their child; cases of mothers seeking legal recognition and assets from the fathers of illegitimate children; and cases involving allegations of physical abuse and infidelity. In addition to the aforementioned, scholars will find numerous examples of women's involvement in civil disputes over outstanding mortgages, as business owners, as estate executors and legal guardians for their children, and in property disputes. Case files from this period contain very little mention of Indian peoples and no Nahuatl documents.

Biographical / historical:

This collection of manuscripts was in the private collection of John H. Grepe of Dallas, Texas from approximately 1957 to 1975. In September 1975, Grepe sold the items as one collection to Gene Hanrahan, president of R & D Books of Salisbury, North Carolina. In August 1977, this same collection was sold via Libros Latinos of Los Angeles, California to the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). In August 1981, more Tulancingo manuscripts were acquired by UCLA from Howard Karno Books, Inc. and added to the collection.

This collection was formerly known as the John H. Grepe collection and A Collection of material about Tulancingo, Hidalgo, Mexico, 1540-1875.

Processing information:

This collection was initially processed by Manuscripts Division staff (date unknown) and was reprocessed in 2006 by Phillip Ramirez (June 2006) and Erika Perez (August 2006) with assistance from Laurel McPhee and Elizabeth Sheehan in the Center for Primary Research and Training.

Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.

We are committed to providing ethical, inclusive, and anti-racist description of the materials we steward, and to remediating existing description of our materials that contains language that may be offensive or cause harm. We invite you to submit feedback about how our collections are described, and how they could be described more accurately, by filling out the form located on our website: Report Potentially Offensive Description in Library Special Collections.

Arrangement:

Arranged in the following series:

  1. Printed materials (.5 box)
  2. Pre-1837 manuscripts (2.5 boxes)
  3. Post-1852 manuscripts (5 boxes).

Physical location:
Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.

Terms of access:

Property rights to the objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Tulancingo (Hildago, Mexico) Manuscript Collection (Collection Number 2073). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Location of this collection:
A1713 Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575, US
Contact:
(310) 825-4988
AskLSC@library.ucla.edu
Website