Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Finding Aid to the George Elmendorf Collection of Mexican Miscellany
BANC MSS 87/190 m
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Language of Material:
Spanish
Contributing Institution:
The Bancroft Library
Title: George Elmendorf Collection of Mexican Miscellany
Creator:
Elmendorf, George F.
Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 87/190 m
Physical Description:
4 linear feet
(2 cartons, 2 boxes, 2 volumes, 1 oversize box)
Date (inclusive): 1584-1973
Abstract: George F. Elmendorf's collection of assorted Mexican manuscripts dating from the sixteenth to the twentieth century.
Location of Materials: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Language of Material: Collection materials are mostly in Spanish.
Collection is open for research.
Materials in this collection may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, the reproduction
of some materials may be restricted by terms of University of California gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions,
privacy and publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond
that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for
any use rests exclusively with the user.
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the
Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley 94720-6000. See: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The George Elmendorf Collection of Mexican Miscellany was purchased from George F. Elmendorf in 1986.
[Identification of item], George Elmendorf Collection of Mexican Miscellany, BANC MSS 87/190 m, The Bancroft Library, University
of California, Berkeley.
Processed by Lara Michels in March, 2015.
Photographs transferred to the Pictorial Collections of the Bancroft Library (BANC PIC 1987.080--AX).
George F. Elmendorf was an owner and operator of Libros Latinos, a premier United States dealer of Latin American books and
manuscripts founded in 1973. Elmendorf received his degree in Latin American history from San Francisco State University and
in 1976 teamed up with Howard Karno, founder of Libros Latinos.
Collection consists of a chronologically arranged series of Mexican manuscripts dating from 1584 to 1973. These manuscripts
were collected by George Elmendorf of Libros Latinos booksellers. The materials are varied in scope and document religious,
political, military, economic, and linguistic activity. Some manuscripts are complete and others are fragmentary. The bulk
are from the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. Notable in the collection are a volume containing a manuscript copy of the 18th-century
botanical work
Plantae nouae hispaniae... by José( Mariano Moziño and Martín Sessé. This copy, made around 1885, is ostensibly the one from which the first printed
copy of the work was published (for the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893). Bound with this manuscript copy is a file of
original 18th-century materials documenting disputes and litigation between Moziño and his wife, Maria Rita Rivera Melo. Also
notable is a file relating to the implementation in Mexico of an indulgence granted by Pope Clement XII to visitors of El
Sagrario (1731). This file includes the original indulgence on vellum. The collection also includes the following: an oration
against the French in 1793 by the bishop of La Rochelle (resident in Guadalajara); a printed decree by the Marques of Branciforte
incorporating a royal decree forbidding clerics or nuns to be heirs of intestate parents; a report on miracles performed by
Our Lady of Nogal. Among the nineteenth-century materials one will find more political content, with some manuscripts documenting
the period of the French intervention and others relating to politics of the 1830s and 1840s. Notable among these is a volume
of accounts from 1842 recording contributions levied for public security in Mexico City; documents from 1881 regarding secure
passage for Vicente Morales to San Francisco where he was to be Mexican Consul; and drafts of letters from 1832 and 1833 regarding
disturbances in Jalapa and regarding sending criminals from the California Presidios and elsewhere to colonize Texas. Among
religious materials for the 19th century are items relating to the Dominicans in Mexico and Baja California, one of them an
unsigned letter from the Provincial concerning religious designated for the Baja California missions. The 19th-century materials
also include an 1835 manuscript eyewitness account of the eruption of the Conchagua volcano. Materials from the 20th century
expand to document business enterprises and the rise of labor unions. Among these are a file of correspondence of José María
Benítez concerning Mexican railroad workers and the labor movement in 1925. Among materials documenting 20th-century politics
are a file of correspondence, telegrams, and flyers relating to Francisco Madero (1911-1914); a group of items relating to
the 1911-1912 elections in Tacuyaba, including flyers from many different political parties; and materials relating to the
execution of José de León Toral, who assassinated President Alvaro Obregón.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Moziño, José Mariano, ǂd 1757-1820?
Branciforte, Miguel de la Grúa y Talamanca, ǂc marqués de, ǂd approximately 1755-1812
Madero, Francisco I., ǂd 1873-1913
Dominicans ǂz Mexico ǂz Baja California
Convents--Mexico
Missions--Mexico
Indulgences--Mexico
French--Mexico
Anthropology--Mexico
Archaeology--Mexico
Education--Mexico
Miracles--Mexico--Early works to 1800.
Mexico--Commerce
Mexico--Social conditions
Mexico--Armed forces
Mexico--Church history
Mexico--Politics and government
Mexico--History--Sources
Mexico--Miscellanea
Sermons
Diaries
Account books
Census records
Military records
Petitions
Receipts