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Table of contents What's This?
  • Restrictions on Access
  • Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
  • Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
  • UCLA Catalog Record ID
  • Preferred Citation
  • Processing Information:
  • Biography
  • Expanded Biographical Narrative
  • Scope and Content
  • Expanded Scope and Content
  • Organization and Arrangement
  • Separated Material

  • Contributing Institution: UCLA Library Special Collections
    Title: Byron McAfee collection of papers relating to the Nahuatl language
    Creator: McAfee, Byron
    Identifier/Call Number: LSC.0339
    Physical Description: 9.5 Linear Feet (19 boxes and 1 oversize box)
    Date (inclusive): circa 1553-1964
    Abstract: Byron McAfee (1883-1966) was an American-born ethnohistorian and linguist who studied Nahua language and culture in Mexico. The collection consists of McAfee's research papers and original manuscripts from Mexico's colonial period.
    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.
    Language of Material: Materials are in Nahuatl, German, Spanish, and English.

    Restrictions on Access

    Portions of collection unprocessed. Material in the boxes 1-2 contain microfilmed material are in nitrate storage and are unavailable for access. Please contact Special Collections reference (spec-coll@library.ucla.edu) for more information.

    Restrictions on Use and Reproduction

    Property rights to the physical 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.

    Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

    CONTAINS UNPROCESSED AUDIOVISUAL MATERIALS: Materials are not currently available for access and will require further processing and assessment. If you have questions about this material please email AskLSC@library.ucla.edu.

    UCLA Catalog Record ID

    UCLA Catalog Record ID: 9942333863606533 

    Preferred Citation

    [Identification of item], Byron McAfee Papers (Collection 339). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

    Processing Information:

    Wayne Ruwet and S.A. Colston created an index to the microfilm and a partial inventory of the research papers in 1978. Anne Caiger removed the colonial manuscripts from a scrapbook and rehoused them in separate files, and also re-boxed and consolidated the collection, in 1988. Barry Sells contributed descriptions of the manuscripts to the department in the early 1990s. The collection was fully rehoused, organized, and described to enhance access to the materials by Xóchitl M. Flores-Marcial with assistance from Laurel McPhee in the Center for Primary Research and Training (CFPRT), Winter 2005.
    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. 

    Biography

    McAfee was born in Houston, Texas, in 1883; emigrated to Mexico in 1906 as employee of the Compañía Mexicana de Peteo El Aguila, S.A.; began studying the Nahuatl language in 1907 under John H. Cornyn with whom he jointly authored several studies; after Cornyn's death in 1941, McAfee collaborated with Angel María Garibay K. and Robert H. Barlow; became an acknowledged expert in Nahuatl studies and published widely.

    Expanded Biographical Narrative

    Byron McAfee (1883-1966) was born in Houston, Texas, and emigrated to Mexico in 1906 as an employee of the Compañía de Petróleos El Aguila. Shortly thereafter, he joined a Nahuatl study group at the Benjamin Franklin Library in Mexico City where he made contacts with scholars such as Robert Barlow, Miguel Leon Portilla, John H. Cornyn and Doña Luz Jimenez (a noted native Nahuatl consultant, also known as Julia Jimenez Gonzalez). McAfee became known as a prolific ethnohistorian and Nahuatl linguist through his research collaborations with Cornyn, and publications of several studies. After Cornyn's death in 1941, McAfee collaborated with noted scholars such as Angel María Garibay K. and Robert H. Barlow, and maintained friendships with Mexican intellectuals such as Alfonso Caso and Manuel Gamio.
    McAfee's publications include: The Techialoyan Codex E (Codex Cempoala, Hidalgo, 1945), La Danza de la Gran Conquista (translation, 1952), Tlacahuapahualistli (with Cornyn, 1943), The Titles of Tezcotzingo (with Barlow, 1945), and The Techialoan Codices: Codex K (1946), in Tlalocan; Anales de la Conquista de Tlatelolco 1473 a 1521 (with Barlow, 1945), La Guerra Entre Tlatelolco y Tenochtitlan Según el Códice Cozcatzin (1946) and Unos Anales Coloniales de Tlatelolco, 1519-1633 (1948), in Tlatelolco a Través de los Tiempos; Diccionario de Elementos Fonéticos en Escritura Jeroglífica (Códice Mendocino) (1949) and El Códice de Mixtepec (with Garibay, 1949); The Techialoyan Codex of Tepotzotlan: Codex X (Reylands Mexican Manuscript l) in Bulletin of the John Ryland Library (with Donald Robertson, 1960).

    Scope and Content

    The microfilm checklist is a revision of an earlier draft compiled in February, 1974, and replaces the earlier version since it reflects the organization of the Collection developed in January-February, 1978. This list, as the first, is a working draft and remains incomplete. Lacunae include several reels of microfilm and the collection of colonial period Nahuatl manuscripts.
    Sixteen of these manuscripts were published in Beyond the Codices: The Nahua View of Colonial Mexico, University of California Press, 1976, edited and translated by Arthur J.O. Anderson, Frances Berdan and James Lockhart.
    An inventory of the materials sent by Cornyn to the University of Toronto (see Box 9, item 1) is appended to the checklist. It is intended that the inventory of the Collection will soon be completed and then expanded into a more substantive study.
    Most of this collection is in Nahuatl and German with portions in Spanish and English.

    Expanded Scope and Content

    The collection consists of Byron McAfee's research papers (microfilm and typescripts) and original manuscripts from Mexico's colonial period. The research papers contain drafts of translations and essays by McAfee and his major collaborator, John Hubert Cornyn, on a variety of subjects including colonial codices, Spanish-Nahuatl dictionaries and vocabularies, and Nahua history and culture. The papers also include printed instructional and linguistic materials on Nahuatl, such as an 1887 Nahuatl grammar from Mexico; full transcriptions of important 16th century works by friars Bernardino de Sahagún, Alonso de Molina and Andres de Olmos; translations and linguistic studies of Nahuatl dramas; and material extracted from Mexican political and social movements related to Nahua studies. (Published works have been included in the finding aid; in addition, full catalog records for these books can be found in the UCLA Library online catalog by performing a keyword search on the phrase, "Byron McAfee papers" in the UCLA Library catalog.)
    The manuscripts series of the collection consists of testaments, deeds, petitions, complaints, and contracts for the sale of land from the areas of Metepec, Azcapotzalco, Tlaxcala and Coyoacan, dating from 1553 to 1864. These manuscripts, chiefly in Nahuatl, document the everyday activities and property holdings of men and women under Spanish colonial rule. Fourteen of the manuscripts in Series 3 were published in Beyond the Codices: the Nahua View of Colonial Mexico, which was edited and translated by Arthur J.O. Anderson, Frances Berdan and James Lockhart and published by the University of California Press, 1976.

    Organization and Arrangement

    Arranged in the following series:
    1. Microfilm, 1565-1941 (2 boxes). In nitrate storage and therefore UNAVAILABLE FOR USE.
    2. Research papers, 1768-1964 (16 boxes), subseries A-E as follows:
      1. Codex studies, 1857-1961 (4 boxes).
      2. Dictionaries and language, 1884-1956 (5 boxes).
      3. John Hubert Cornyn papers, 1926-1930 (2 boxes).
      4. Nahua history and culture, 1857-1964 (3 boxes).
      5. Miscellaneous, 1768-1953 (2 boxes).
    3. Manuscripts, 1553-1864 (1 box).

    Separated Material

    Cornyn Manuscripts sent to the University of Toronto 1937-38

    Missing Title

    1. 1. Souls and Testamentary Executors (English translation from Aztec).
    2. 2. The Judgment Day--Aztec Text--English Translation.
    3. 3. Ixcit Cheel--Maya Text--English Translation.
    4. 4. Catechismo Breve--Typescript.
    5. 5. Cartilla o Silabario--Aztec--Typescript.
    6. 6. Buried Cities of Mexico--Manuscript.
    7. 21. Compendio de Gramatica Nahuatl--Luna Cardenas Manuscript.
    8. 24. Sacrifice of Isaac (Aztec comedy)--Cornyn Manuscript.
    9. 28. Relación Morcuriana--Typewritten.
    10. 31. The four Suns (translated from Aztec)--Cornyn translation.
    11. 32. The Rape of Fire (from Aztec)--Cornyn.
    12. 33. The Merchant (Aztec comedy)--Cornyn translation.
    13. 35. Coyotl Ixtlamatqui (The Wise Coyote)--Cornyn Manuscript.
    14. 36. Obregon's Administration Manuscript.
    15. 69. Bringing up Children--Aztec--English--Cornyn.
    16. 81. Bringing up Children (2nd manuscript).
    17. 92. In EzopoiZazanillatol (Aztec)--Hunt Cortes.
    18. 93. Song of Quetzalcoatl--(original manuscript)--Cornyn.
    19. 110. A Toltec Chronicle (Aztec)--Cornyn.
    20. 123. Coyotl ihuan Tlacuatzin (Aztec Folk Tale)--Cornyn.
    21. 124. El Perro Viejo y el Coyote (Aztec Folk Tale)--Cornyn.
    22. 126. Tlacuatzin ihuan Coyotl (Aztec Folk Tale)--Cornyn.
    23. 131. Aztec Proper names--Cornyn Manuscript.
    24. 132. Cacaton ihuan Quimichi--Cornyn Manuscript.
    25. 133. The four Winds--Cornyn Manuscript.
    26. 134. The Funeral Oration, Archbishop Diaz--Cornyn Manuscript.
    27. 173. Tlaloc (God of the Waters) and his Symbols--Manuscript.
    28. 174. In Animatzin ihuan Albaceas and translation. J.H. Cornyn.
    29. 198. Analysis of a Fable in Aztec--Cornyn Manuscript.
    30. 199. Indian Names on the Laredo-Mexico Highway--Manuscript.
    31. 200. Tlatlatlauhtilteacuicayotl (Aztec) Jesus Valencia Cuauhtla Manuscript.
    32. 201. Grammatical Analysis of an Aztec Text--Manuscript.
    33. 208. Funeral Oration. Spanish-Aztec--Escalada Manuscript.
    34. 209. The Aztec Linguistic Field--Cornyn.

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    Manuscripts, Nahuatl -- Specimens.
    Mexico -- History -- Spanish colony, 1540-1810 -- Archives.
    Mexico -- History -- Conquest, 1519-1540 -- Archives.
    Nahuas -- History -- Archives.
    Nahuas -- Social life and customs -- Archives.
    Nahuatl language -- Archives.
    Historians -- United States -- Archives.
    Historians -- Mexico -- Archives.
    Linguists -- Mexico -- Archives.
    Linguists -- United States -- Archives.
    Cornyn, John Hubert
    McAfee, Byron -- Archives