Spanish Archives of New Mexico Translations, mid-1930s

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Summary

Creators:
United States. Works Progress Administration.
Abstract:
This is a collection of English translations of the Spanish Archives of New Mexico, which was an endeavor of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) of the mid-1930s. Records in this collection document matters of estates, land grants, wills, government, and relations between Spanish colonists, Native Americans, and Anglo Americans in New Mexico between 1682 and 1855. Translations were made by WPA employees in New Mexico, and a typed set were donated to the Southwest Museum in 1938.
Extent:
4 Linear Feet (5 document boxes)
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

Spanish Archives of New Mexico, mid-1930s, Braun Research Library Collection, Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles; MS.204; [folder number] [folder title][date].

Background

Scope and content:

This collection of 638 documents consists of English translations made by Works Progress Administration employees of selected Spanish documents from the Spanish Archives of New Mexico. The original documents which are translated in this collection range in date from 1682-1855 and include correspondence, decrees, estate and archival inventories, land grants, lawsuits, petitions, reports on Indian campaigns, sale of land and houses, wills and other papers regarding relations between Spanish settlers and Native Americans, Anglo-Americans, and colonial rule in New Mexico. The English translations are identified by their Twitchell number, and full descriptions and titles of the documents can be found by consulting Twitchell's publications Spanish Archives of New Mexico, volumes 1 and 2.

Biographical / historical:

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was a relief measure established in 1935 by executive order. From 1935 until its end in 1943, the WPA employed more than 8.5 million people and established almost 1.5 million projects, including construction of roads, dams, schools and other public facilities, murals in public buildings, written guides to each state, and the Historical Records Survey. Administrative control of these projects was turned over to the states in 1939.

The Spanish Archives of New Mexico was assembled by the Surveyor General of New Mexico (1854-1891) and the Court of Private Land Claims (1891-1904). These offices were charged with investigating claims of property ownership in New Mexico and reporting to the United States Congress in order to adjudicate land titles pursuant to the terms of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Some of these Archives were translated into English by Ralph E. Twitchell for his 1914 publication Spanish Archives of New Mexico. More English translations were completed as part of the WPA Historical Records Survey in the mid-1930s, under the direction and supervision of Fred G. Healey and Ina Sizer Cassidy. Upon completion of the project, paper copies of 637 documents were donated to the Southwest Museum by the WPA.

The English translations are identified by their Twitchell number, and full descriptions and titles of the documents can be found by consulting Twitchell's Spanish Archives of New Mexico, volume 1.

The original Spanish archives consist of administrative, civil, ecclesiastical, and military records of the Spanish colonial government in New Mexico from 1621-1821.

References "Works Progress Administration." Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 2000. 1129. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Accessed April 27 2011. http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?&id=GALE%7CCX3406401047&v=2.1&u=uclosangeles&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w

Lawson, Alan. "Works Progress Administration." Dictionary of American History. Ed. Stanley I. Kutler. 3rd ed. Vol. 8. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2003. 530-531. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Accessed April 27, 2011. http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?&id=GALE%7CCX3401804595&v=2.1&u=uclosangeles&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w.

The Center for Southwest Research, "Land Grant Research," http://elibrary.unm.edu/cswr.

Twitchell was a prominent New Mexico lawyer and the most notable historian of New Mexico of his time. In May 1892 Twitchell helped save the Santa Fe Archives from a fire that destroyed the territorial capital building. In 1914 he published Spanish Archives of New Mexico, which was the first calendar and guide to the Spanish Archives manuscript collection (the same that he had earlier helped save from fire) and was used to develop the finding aids for the Archives.

Acquisition information:
Donation by the Works Progress Administration, 1938.
Processing information:

Historical note prepared by Eloise Nelson, Braun Research Library intern, 2011 March 23. Initial processing completed by Braun Library staff. Finding aid completed by Holly Rose Larson, NHPRC Processing Archivist, 2012 August 6, made possible through grant funding from the National Historical Publications and Records Commissions (NHPRC).

Arrangement:

Collection is in chronological order of original document.

Physical / technical requirements:

Descriptions and titles of the documents can be found in Spanish Archives of New Mexico: compiled and chronologically arranged with historical, genealogical, geographical, and other annotations by authority of the state of New Mexico, by Ralph Emerson Twitchell, [Cedar Rapids, Ia.]: Torch Press, 1914. Braun Research Library Collection 016.9789 T v. 1-2.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Appointments to view materials are required. To make an appointment please visit https://theautry.org/research-collections/library-and-archives and fill out the Researcher Application Form.

Terms of access:

Copyright has not been assigned to the Autry Museum of the American West. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Research Services and Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Autry Museum of the American West as the custodian of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.

Preferred citation:

Spanish Archives of New Mexico, mid-1930s, Braun Research Library Collection, Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles; MS.204; [folder number] [folder title][date].

Location of this collection:
4700 Western Heritage Way
Los Angeles, CA 90027, US
Contact:
(747) 201-8448
rroom@theautry.org
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