Federico G贸mez de Orozco Collection on the Establishment of Spanish Missions in California, New Mexico, and Other Southwest Territories, 1595-1829

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Summary

Creators:
Rosenbach Company and G贸mez de Orozco, Federico
Extent:
2 boxes (.83 linear feet)
Language:
Spanish; Castilian .

Background

Scope and content:

The Federico G贸mez 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.

Biographical / historical:

Historian and bibliophile Federico G贸mez de Orozco was born in Tlalpan, Mexico in 1891 and died on July 18, 1962 in Tizap谩n, D.F. He was a recognized researcher and professor at the Universidad Nacional Aut贸noma 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 Tizap谩n contained pictographs and documents in relation to Indigenous and European colonial history.

G贸mez 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 Geograf铆a y Estad铆stica, Society of America, and Soci茅t茅 des Americanistes y Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cient铆ficas.

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 G贸mez 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 Antropolog铆a e Historia.

Custodial history:

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 G贸mez de Orozco, through an intermediary.

Processing information:

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.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Terms of access:

The Clark Library owns the property rights to its collections but does not hold the copyright to these materials and therefore cannot grant or deny permission to use them. Researchers are responsible for determining the copyright status of any materials they may wish to use, investigating the owner of the copyright, and obtaining permission for their intended publication or other use. In all cases, you must cite the Clark Library as the source with the following credit line: The William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

This collection is open for research.

Location of this collection:
2520 Cimarron Street
Los Angeles, CA 90018, US
Contact:
(310) 794-5155
clark@humnet.ucla.edu
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