Documents from Early Peru, the Pizarros and the Almagros

U.S. Library of Congress, Documents from Early Peru, the Pizarros and the Almagros, 1531-1578, The Harkness Collection in the Library of Congress, Washington: Government Printing Office, 1936.

From the Preface:

The present volume is the second in the series of publications made by the Library of Congress from the great collection of early Spanish manuscripts concerning the New World, presented to it in 1929 by Mr. Edward S. Harkness.

La entrevista de Guayaquil

Rojas, Ricardo, La entrevista de Guayaquil, Obras Completas de Ricardo Rojas, Vol. 30, Buenos Aires: Editorial Losada. 1950, 365 p.

Explicación preliminar de Ricardo Rojas:

Abarca el material de este libro tres partes monográficas: dos de ellas dilucidan el famoso encuentro de San Martín con Bolivar en Guayaquil y la bibliografía de un siglo sobre el mismo tópico; la tercera comprueba la correlación militar de nuestra guerra del alto Perú con la de San Martín en el Pacífico, y la influencia que aquella pudo tener en el gran retiro del Gran Capitán.

Independencia del Perú

La Multitud, la Ciudad, y el Campo

Basadre, Jorge, La multitud, la ciudad, y el campo en la historia del Perú, 2nda ed., Lima, Peru: Editorial Huascarán, 1947. [condition - fragile]

Wikipedia:

Basadre was a prolific writer; his numerous works on the history of Peru in the 19th and 20th centuries are still a benchmark for historians interested in this period. His publications include La multitud, la ciudad y el campo (1929), La iniciación de la República (1929-1930), Perú, problema y posibilidad (1931), La promesa de la vida peruana (1943), El conde de Lemos y su tiempo (1945), Chile, Perú y Bolivia independientes (1948), El azar en la historia y sus límites (1971), La vida y la historia (1975) and Elecciones y centralismo en el Perú (1980).

Noticias secretas de América

Jorge Juan y Antonio de Ulloa: Noticias secretas de América, Buenos Aires: Ediciones Mar Oceano, 1953.

De la "Advertencia" escrita por Gregorio Weinberg:

Jorge Juan y Antonio de Ulloa tuvieron una notable intervención en las tareas científicas realizadas que los equipara a los sabios mas notables de su tiempo(3); desempeñaron además con honor y eficacia las tareas que les fueron encomendadas, en su calidad de marinos de escuela, para la fortificación y defensa de las costas del litoral peruano, como así también para equipar una escuadra, medidas necesarias para enfrentar la anunciada expedición del Inglés Anson. Separadamente, escribieron una serie de valiosos trabajos, y en colaboración, entre otros, la notable Relación Histórica del Viage a la América Meridional(4). Pero, y ésto es lo que mas nos interesa, además de las tareas oficialmente encomendadas por la Corona a los jóvenes españoles, llevaban una misión secreta: informar directamente a la Corte acerca del estado político, social, económico, militar y naval de los países visitados. Resultado de la misma es el importantísimo libro que hoy se conoce con el nombre abreviado de Noticias Secretas de América.

A Study On The Historiography Of The British West Indies

Goveia, Elsa V., A Study On The Historiography Of The British West Indies To The End Of The Nineteenth Century, Mexico City, 1956, Comisión de Historia, Instituto Panamericano de Geografía e Historia, Historiografías II. (2 copies)

Reviewed in The Journal of Economic History © 1981.

Cuban re-issue reviewed in Caribbean Studies © 1988.

See also A Tribute to Elsa V. Goveia, in Caribbean Quarterly © 1984.

From the foreword:

This study on the historiography of the British West Indies is based upon the printed histories available in the libraries of the University College of the West Indies and of the Institute of Jamaica. Only a few of the histories mentioned in the text, for instance Joseph's History of Trinidad, were not available for consultation; and, in such cases, I have had to rely on the authority of other writers for a judgement of the work. In most cases, the assessment of the various writers is my own.

Cultural and Historical Geography of Southwest Guatemala

Mc Bryde, Felix Webster*, Cultural and Historical Geography of Southwest Guatemala, Smithsonian Institute Social Anthropology Publication 4, 1947: 1–184.

Review

From the preface:

The present monograph, based primarily upon a thesis completed at the University of California for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in geography in 1940, is the result of field research which extended over many years. The work was made possible by the assistance and cooperation of a number of institutions and persons both in the United States and in Guatemala and several other American republics.

*Geographer, Military Intelligence Service, War Department.

La Compañía de Caracas, 1728-1784

Hussey, Ronald D., La Compañía de Caracas, 1728-1784, traducción de Leopoldo Landaeta; prólogo por Alfonso Espinosa; estudio bibliográfico por Pedro Grases, Colección histórico-económica venezolana ; v. 8, Caracas, 1962.

Del prólogo de Alfonso Espinosa:

La obra de Hussey... abarca precisamente el principal período de la gestación de nuestro país, el mas importante en la formación de su territorio, de su pueblo y de sus fuerzas y recursos; y versa sobre el factor dominante mas influyente, en esa época, en el desarrollo y los destinos de nuestra nación: la Guipuzcoana.

Notes on Costa Rican Democracy

Busey, James L., Notes on Costa Rican Democracy, University of Colorado studies -- no. 2, Boulder, Colorado, February, 1962.

Nat'l Library of Australia Online Catalogue

The Imperial City of Potosí

Hanke, Lewis, The imperial city of Potosí; an unwritten chapter in the history of Spanish America, The Hague, Nijhoff, 1956. 60 p. illus. 25 cm.

Book details from questia

Review by Pierre Chaunu

Ariel

Rodó, José Enrique, Ariel, prólogo de Rafael Altamira, Ediciones Ercilla: Santiago de Chile, 1936. [copy in very fragile condition]

Rodó is best known for his essay Ariel (1900), drawn from The Tempest, in which Ariel represents Latin America, and Caliban represents North America, and they debate the future course of history, in what Rodó intended to be a secular sermon to Latin American youth, championing the cause of the classical western tradition. What Rodó was afraid of was the debilitating effect of working individuals' limited existence doing the same work, over and over again, never having time to develop the spirit.
(...) In Ariel, Rodó surveys the situation Latin America was facing at the end of the 19th century. He points out that utilitarianism relies on specialization and materialism, and that consequently, the wealth of our minds is affected. Such practice can and will affect the spirit. In order for Latin America to revive its spirit, Rodó proposed strict adherence to the aesthetic ideals of the Greek and the Roman cultures. He believed both of these embody a sense of beauty, and most important, both realms recognize the significance of devoting oneself to an activity of the mind. Art is then a form of learning that finds and enriches the spirit and negates utilitarianism. Ariel.

E-text available online.
Also at Google books.

María Lionza: Mito y Culto Venezolano

Pollack-Eltz, Angelina, María Lionza: Mito y Culto Venezolano, Caracas: Universidad Católica Andrés Bello, 1985, 70 pgs.

A not very sympathetic review of the monograph by Patricia J. Lyon.

História economica do Brasil

Prado Júnior, Ciao, História economica do Brasil,4ta edição, São Paulo : Editora Brasiliense, 1956.

From the cover insert:

São poucos os historiadores que entre nós têm contribuido para uma justa interpretação dos fatos sociais assinalados nos nossos quatro séculos de historia.

From another source:

Candido é talvez, junto com Caio Prado Jr., o pioneiro em um método de interpretação dialética da experiência brasileira. O Caio Prado faz isso interpretando de forma materialista os ciclos econômicos e o Antonio Candido interpreta o compasso entre o desejo de formar uma literatura ao mesmo tempo em que a elite se empenhava em formar uma nação”, aponta Rafael Villas Bôas, pesquisador e professor da UnB.

A essa forma de leitura da realidade que situa Candido e Caio Prado foi dado o nome de “tradição crítica brasileira”, que reúne conceitos clássicos do marxismo formulados por intelectuais como Theodor Adorno, da Escola de Frankfurt, com questões tipicamente nacionais.

La nueva frontera ...de cómo se sembró el petróleo

Vallarino de Bracho, Carmen, La nueva frontera ...de cómo se sembró el petróleo Maracaibo: Ediciones Ediluz (Editorial de la Universidad de Zulia), 1989. 223 pp.

Extracto del prólogo de Domingo Alberto Rangel:

Cuando aparece el petróleo como vena comercial, ya el negro hidrocarburo había sido descubierto por Alonso de Ojeda, cambian todos los datos, perfiles y realidades de Venezuela. El país parece uno de aquellos aparatos medidores de la Física cuya aguja empieza a oscilar a la loca si un acontecimiento súbito se adueña de la atmósfera. De repente surge un mercado nacional que consume alimentos, usa telas, exige espectáculos y necesita medios modernos de transporte.

Origen de las civilizaciones indígenas en la América del Sud

Nordenskiöld, Erland Origen de las civilizaciones indígenas en la América del Sud, Buenos Aires: Editorial Bajel, 1946.

Nils Erland Herbert Nordenskiôld:

...sueco etnólogo, arqueólogo, y estudioso de la cultura aborigen de Sudamérica. Fue profesor de la American and comparative ethnology at the University of Göteborg, Suecia entre (1924–32), tiene una influencia marcada dentro de la antropología Sueca y Dinamarquesa. (...) Varias obras ya clásicas de Nordenskiold son referencia indispensable en arqueología jujeña: Emplazamientos de viviendas y enterratorios precolombinos en el extremo suroeste del Chaco (1902), Algo sobre la región donde el Chaco y Los Andes se encuentran (1903), Obtención precolombina de la sal en la Puna de Jujuy (1902) y Restos Arqueológicos en la Cima del Nevado de Chañi (1902).

Eighty years after Erland Nordenskiöld: The question of the eastern frontier of the Inca Empire in Bolivia

The Swedish archaeologist and anthropologist Erland Nordenskiöld (1877-1932), son of the famous polar explorer Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld, dedicated his whole career to the investigations of South American prehistory and ethnography. He was working in both the highlands and lowlands of northern Argentina, Bolivia and southern Peru. Thus, one of his main explicite interests was to study the relationships of the highland and lowland cultures in a historical perspective and the marginal cultures of the highland sphere in general. Ari Siiriäinen & Martti Pärssinen

Historia de los Incas

Sarmiento de Gamboa, Pedro, Historia de los Incas, Colección Hórreo, Segunda Edicion, Buenos Aires: Emecé Editores, 1943.

THE NATIVES OF THIS LAND affirm that in the beginning, and before this world was created, there was a being called Viracocha. He created a dark world without sun, moon or stars. Owing to this creation he was named Viracocha Pachayachachi, which means "Creator of all things." And when he had created the world he formed a race of giants of disproportioned greatness painted and sculptured, to see whether it would be well to make real men of that size. He then created men in his likeness as they are now; and they lived in darkness.

Viracocha ordered these people that they should live without quarrelling, and that they should know and serve him. He gave them a certain precept which they were to observe on pain of being confounded if they should break it. They kept this precept for some time, but it is not mentioned what it was. But as there arose among them the vices of pride and covetousness, they transgressed the precept of Viracocha Pachayachachi and falling, through this sin, under his indignation, he confounded and cursed them. Then some were turned into stones, others into other things, some were swallowed up by the earth, others by the sea, and over all there came a general flood which they call uñu pachacuti, which means "water that overturns the land." They say that it rained 60 days and nights, that it drowned all created things, and that there alone remained some vestiges of those who were turned into stones, as a memorial of the event, and as an example to posterity, in the edifices of Pucara, which are 60 leagues from Cuzco.

La Marcha Hacia el Oeste

Cassiano, Ricardo, La marcha hacia el oeste : la influencia de la 'bandeira' en la formación social y política del Brasil, México, D.F. : Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1956.

LINK

Miranda

Picón-Salas, Mariano, Miranda, biografias historicas y novelescas, Buenos Aires: Editorial Losada S.A., 1946.

El autor escribe:

Quise llevar, especialmente, a una tragedia de tipo moderno, el agitado último año y medio de la vida de Miranda en Venezuela, entre diciembre de 1810 y julio de 1812...

Francisco de Miranda (English)

Natural History of the West Indies

Fernández de Oviedo, Gonzalo, Natural History of the West Indies [translated by Sterling A. Stoudemire], University of North Carolina Studies in the Romance Languages and Literatures, Num. 32, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1959.

From the editor's introduction:

This history, published in Toledo in 1526, is a brilliant account of the flora, fauna, geography, folklore and customs of the natives of the Caribbean area, chiefly of the island Hispaniola and the Isthmian area, the section that Oviedo had visited and studied and had come to love.

See this LINK.

Life in a Haitian Valley

Herskovitz, Melville J., Life in a Haitian Valley, with an introd. by Edward Brathwaite, Garden City New York: Double Day & Company, Inc., 1971.

From the inside cover of the paperback:

Melville J. Herskovitz, founding member and first president of the African Studies Association, occupied the first professional chair of African Affairs ever established in the United States. He taught anthropology at Columbia, Howard and Northwestern University, where in 1947 he assumed directorship of African Studies. For research in African and African derived cultures, Dr. Herskovitz traveled to Dutch Guyana, West Africa, Haiti, Trinidad, Brazil, and often and extensively through sub-Saharan Africa.

The Civilised Island, Barbados

Watson, Karl A., The Civilised Island, Barbados, A Social History, 1750-1816, Printed by Caribbean Graphic Production Limited, St. George, Barbados, submitted as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Florida in 1975.

Dr Karl Watson is Senior Lecturer in the Department of History, University of the West Indies. He is the Editor of the Journal of the Barbados Museum, Secretary (Hon) of the Barbados National Trust, Chairman of the George Washington House Restoration Committee, and the Barbados/Carolinas Committee.

Journey in Brazil

Agassiz, Professor and Mrs. Louis, Journey in Brazil, Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1868. 540 pgs.

Dedicatoria

To Mr. Nathaniel Thayer, the friend who made it possible to give this journey the character of a scientific expedition, the present volume is gratefully inscribed.

Agassiz

American, Swiss-born naturalist and geologist, was the son of the Protestant pastor of the parish of Motier, on the north-eastern shore of the Lake of Morat (Murten See), and not far from the eastern extremity of the Lake of Neuchâtel. Agassiz was born at this retired place on the 28th of May 1807. Educated first at home, then spending four years at the gymnasium of Bienne, he completed his elementary studies at the academy of Lausanne. Having adopted medicine as his profession, he studied successively at the universities of Zürich, Heidelberg and Munich; and he availed himself of the advantages afforded by these universities for extending his knowledge of natural history, especially of botany. After completing his academical course, he took in 1829 his degree of doctor of philosophy at Erlangen, and in 1830 that of doctor of medicine at Munich.

Cycles of Civilisation

Marryshow, T. Albert, Cycles of Civilisation: A Reply to General Smuts Forerunner of Racist Apartheid by an Afro-Caribbean Leader of Grenada, New and Revised Edition - Foreword and Biographical Sketch by Richard B. Moore, Pathway Publishers: Afroamerican Institute, P.O. Box 381, Patchogue, NY 11772, USA; Caribbean: San Remo Hotel, Maxwell, Christ Church, Barbados.

Obituary

Theophilus Albert Marryshow, 71, a principal figure in the establishment of The West Indies confederation, Senator in the first West Indian legislature, Grenada-born journalist who in 1915 founded the West Indian; following a stroke; in St. George's, Grenada, W.I.

The Portuguese in Spanish America

Hanke, Lewis, The Portuguese in Spanish America, with Special Reference to the Villa Imperial de Potosi, R.H.A. Num. 51, Junio de 1961: 48 pgs.

Lewis Hanke was a Latin American historian. He taught at the University of Hawaii (1926-27), University of Beirut (1927-30), Harvard University (1934-39), University of Texas (1951-1961), Columbia University (1961-67), UC Irvine (1967-69), and the University of Massachusetts (1969-75). He also served as director of the Library of Congress (1939-51).

La cultura colonial Española en el Alto Peru

Finot, Enrique, La cultura colonial Española en el alto Peru, New York : Instituto de las Espanas en los Estados Unidos, 1935.
40p. : illus., port.

Enrique Finot:

(1891-1952) Historiador, pedagogo y diplomático boliviano. Fundó y dirigió revistas y periódicos, entre ellos La Escuela Moderna. En 1917 publicó una Historia de la pedagogía boliviana, y en este mismo año ingresó en el cuerpo diplomático.

Whither Latin America?

Tannenbaum, Frank, Whither Latin America?: An introduction to its economic and social problems (Hardcover), Thomas Y. Crowell Co.: 1934, 206 pages Introduction by James T. Shotwell.
From the book cover...

Dr. Tannenbaum in his extremely meaty book lays down a program for research, rather than states the results of research. One by one he takes up such topics as Population, Industrialism, Finance, Foreign Trade, Transportation, etc, and raises pertinent questions based upon facts, without attempting solution.

My observation: This approach sounds distantly similar to what my father did with his own dissertation on Puerto Rican politics and the New Deal: eschewing analysis in favor of a focus on documentation. Perhaps this is understandable, given that Frank Tannenbaum was his doctoral thesis advisor!

Nouveau Voyage aux Isles de l’Amérique

LABAT, Jean-Baptiste {Père}. Nouveau Voyage aux Isles de l’Amérique, Contenant l’Histoire Naturelle de ces Pays, l’origine, les mœurs, la religion & le gouvernement des habitans anciens et modernes. Les guerres & les événements singuliers qui y sont arrivez pendant le long séjour que l’auteur y a fait. Paris, 1722. 6 vol. in-12
Link to a similar set.

He [Père Labat] landed in Martinique, 29 January, 1694, and was entrusted with the care of the parish of Macouba, where he remained two years. In 1696 he went to Guadeloupe, and on his return was appointed procurator-general of all the Dominican convents in the Antilles. Owing to his scientific knowledge, the French government appointed him engineer, and in this capacity he visited the whole chain of the French, Dutch, and English Antilles from Grenada to Santo Domingo. He served for two years as engineer in Guadeloupe, and when the English attacked the island in 1704 took an active part in the defense, firing several cannon with his own hand. He also invented new methods for the manufacture of sugar, which are still in use in the colony.

General Survey of the material related to Puerto Rico held by the Library of Congress

This year will mark a decade since my father passed away. This is the first post on this blog, which I have established for the purpose of documenting his extensive library on Latin America and the Caribbean. In this post, however, I am presenting (and remembering) him in his role as a researcher. He was an historian, an educator and one of the leading Caribbeanists of the twentieth century. It should also be recalled that perhaps his most important work was about Puerto Rico. In this vein, I would like to reproduce here part of a report he submitted on materials related to Puerto Rico held (at the time) by the U.S. Library of Congress:

General Survey of the material related to Puerto Rico held by the Library of Congress. Report submitted by Thomas G. Mathews, August 8, 1956. Published by Historia 6 (2) October 1956.

Following the suggestion of Dr. Howard Cline, Director of the Hispanic Foundation in the Library of Congress, The University of Puerto Rico granted me permission to spend four weeks surveying the material related to Puerto Rico in the Library of Congress. The Foundation requested that a report of this survey be drawn up in the hopes that it would offer a clear appraisal of the strength and weakness of the Library's material on Puerto Rico. This report could also serve as a guide to future action by the Library by indicating obvious gaps in the material or collections which needed rounding out. Obviously such a report would also enable the Library to better serve its readers and researchers in this particular field.

The University of Puerto Rico and scholars concerned with insular affairs should find the survey helpful in view of the fact that no previous effort has been made to describe in one study the Puerto Rican material found in the various divisions of the Library of Congress. In 1901 there was drawn up under the guidance of A.F.C. Criffin A List of Books on Porto Rico found in the Library of Congress. This, of course, is long out-dated and made no effort to explore the holdings of other divisions. It is hoped that the following survey will supply the reader with a ready guide to the material of the Library related to Puerto Rico, as well as an appraisal as to the quality of those holdings.

I wish to express my appreciation to Dr. Cline for the ready cooperation which he and his staff offered me during my four weeks. In all divisions of the Library I was willingly and readily served to my complete satisfaction, even when the requests were sometimes obviously out of the ordinary. I am indebted to Mr. Jorge Morales Yordan for the time he took to orient me as to the procedures, holdings, and classifications of the Law Library. If I have any criticisms to make in no way should they be interpreted as personal but rather in an effort to enable an under-staffed Library to serve more efficiently its readers.

Introduction

The material concerning Puerto Rico in the Library of Congress forms the largest single holding outside of the Archivo General de las Indias in Spain and the Library of the University of Puerto Rico. In the British Museum, the Bibliotheque Nationale de Paris, the New York Public Library and the National Archives [1] Puerto Rican material of importance can be located. For the most such holdings are limited in scope, in period covered, and by obvious national interests.

[1] The holdings of the National Archives is a residue of a collection of official papers relating to the Spanish Government in Puerto Rico which was shipped to the United States by a representative of the Library of Congress shortly after the American occupation. The body of material --some 200 boxes-- was returned to the island where it is reputed to have been partially destroyed by fire in 1926. The remaining material was sent from the Library of Congress to the National Archives where it can now be consulted.


The Library of Congress holdings relating to the period of discovery, conquest, and period of colonization can be located principally in the divisions of Rare Book and Manuscript. Copies of the classics of Latin American history in which there is always some mention of Puerto Rico--even though it be just in passing--can be found in the card catalog of the Rare Book Room. To the known accounts of Oviedo, Gomara,, Herrera, Las Casas, Laet,, etc. I would like to add a hitherto unknown visitor to Puerto Rico. "Captpitaine Gourges" writes of his brief visit to the shores of "Sainet Germaine de Porterique" in the latter quarter of the year 1569. [2] In the Manuscript Division the reproduction of material in European archives contains material on Puerto Rico, even though the reproductions were made with the purpose of securing material relative to North America. These holdings will be studied in detail below.

[2] "La Reprise de la Floride” in Histoire de la Floride franaise by
Paul Gaffarel, pp. 489-490 refer to Puerto Rico.

The holdings of the XVII and XVIII centuries should also be sought in the Rare Book and Manuscript Divisions. For works related to the lost half of the XVII century the general card catalog should be consulted in the general shelf area of Puerto Rico a copy of the 1788 Madrid edition of Fray Iigo Abbad y Lasierra’s Historia, geografica, civil.y politica de la Isla de San Juan Bautista de Puerto Rico (Imprenta de Don Antonia Espinosa) can be found. This of course should be placed in the Rare Book Collection. On this period, the Map Division also has material such as the four items of the Howe Collection which are described below.

The Library's holdings in the XIX century broaden out considerably, particularly toward the latter half of the century. Not only can more material be found on Puerto Rico but the quality is better. For example, the Manuscript Division can boast of not just mere reproductions of European archival holdings by an impressive collection of original material. The same is true of maps. Only the Divisions of Prints and Photographs and Music fail to show any holdings in the XIX century.

As would be expected, the material concerning the Spanish American War, as it is related to Puerto Rico, is plentiful. The collection of Col. Hoes, a U.S. Army chaplain, which has been integrated into the general holdings helps to explain this more complete coverage. A spot check on the more recent publications seems to indicate an adequate coverage as far as printed books are concerned. There may be a few exceptions to this which will be taken up later.

After this generous introduction, each division will be separately examined. It should be noted that I am not pausing to call attention to generally known material, but rather I prefer to single out that which can not be readily found. In some cases, such material may have little value in comparison to the more commonly known works but I prefer to run this risk since to do otherwise would be to reproduce what is found in the general card catalog under Puerto Rico (or Porto Rico since some divisions, like Rare Books, have failed to change their file to be in accord with the proper spelling) and thus give little justification for the report.

Manuscripts Division
Aside from the general collection of' the Library, this division has the largest amount of material on Puerto Rico and, in spite of the fact that a great number of the holdings are reproductions, the manuscript collection, while quite sparse as to the XIX century, is very valuable. A list with a brief description of the reproductions from the British Archives can be found in Appendix A; the French in Appendix B; and the Spanish in Appendix C.

Among the few reproductions of the French archives there is a hitherto unknown collection of outstanding interest to Puerto Rico. These manuscripts are found in the Museum d' Histoire Naturelle, having been sent there by one August Plee.

August Plee was, according to the Biographie Universalle (Tome Trente Troisime 1856) a botanist by profession. In 1819 at the age of thirty-two, he was sent by the royal government of France on a botanical excursion of the new world. He visited Canada and the United States collecting samples of plants and animals of all varieties. What he could not collect and ship back to France he carefully described and sketched.

From Norfolk, Virginia he journeyed south by boat into the Caribbean arriving at Puerto Rico the first month or two of 1822. He continued to collect specimens of fish, fowl, and sea life, such as mollusks. He also continued to sketch. As he traveled all over Puerto Rico from Mayaguez and Cabo Rojo, through Adjuntas and Ponce to Fajardo, and back to San Juan, he created beautiful sketches of the towns and countryside. His drawings which are listed in Appendix B are carefully done in perfect perspective and with such precision that one can recognize familiar buildings, such as churches, which are still standing today.

Mon. Plee in the brief introduction to his sketches explains that they will serve as a visual guide to the Journal of his explorations. Careful search in the catalog of the manuscripts of the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle [3] has failed to indicate that this Journal is among their collection. An effort should be made to locate it in the Museum. However, the chances are very good that the Journal failed to reach Europe just as its author failed.

[3] Mss.de la Bibliothque du Museum d' Histoire Naturelle por A. Boinet in Catalogue General des Mss des Bibliothques Publiques, Paris II (Librairee Plon 1914)

Leaving Puerto Rico in 1823 Plee passed through the Virgin Islands and the Leeward Islands stopping finally at Martinique. Here he contracted some tropical malady and died the 17th of August, 1825 at the age-:of thirty-eight. His collections of plant and fowl have found their way into proper care. His journal should be diligently sought. The reproductions of his sketches held by the Library are disappointing in that they are photocopies (white on black surface). My recommendation to the University of Puerto Rico is that they secure actual size black and white (if original are pencil sketches) photographs of this valuable collection of art works.

With the reproductions of the vast holdings of Spain, I utilized the unpublished work of two former employees of the Library of Congress. Dr. John Finan was working on a guide to the Spanish reproductions held by the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress before he severed his relations with this division of the government. The state of the notes for this guide was such that with some effort Puerto Rican references could be singled out. This list of references is included in Appendix C.

Dr. Arturo Morales Carrion spent three months in 1946 in the position I temporarily hold, as consultant on Puerto Rican documents. Appended to this present report is a list of Spanish reproductions located by Mr. Morales pertaining to Puerto Rico. Copies of these reproductions were secured by the University of Puerto Rico for use by the History Department.

As can be seen by examining the list of Puerto Rican material drawn up from the work of Dr. Finan, the holdings are sparse and scattered over a three hundred year period. The reproductions held by the Library of Congress, and this is true of the French and British more so than the Spanish, pertain primarily to material concerned with North America. Therefore, while a diligent search would undoubtedly turn up more concerning Puerto Rico than has been revealed by Dr. Finan’s work, it is obvious that such time would be better spent in the Archivo General de las Indias of Spain. However, it goes without saying that Dr. Finan’s valuable work should be brought to completion and published so that researchers might be better served.

The manuscript material on Puerto Rico which is listed in the Handbook and can be found on the shelves in the general area assigned to Puerto Rico is so scattered and disorganized that it would be hopeless to do other than list the material with a brief description for each item. This is done in Appendix D. These documents are from the XIX century, although there are a few items-- as noted-- pertaining to the previous and the present century. In some cases (a lottery ticket or a canceled stamp) the value as historical material is negligible, in other cases-- the listing of foreigners or the memorandum on the telegraph system of the island-- the importance for historical research is obvious. On the whole, this material is very spotty and considered as a unit - which it is not - has little value.

The Puerto Rican Memorial Collection, donated to the Library by Miss Alice Gould, is the most valuable material of the Manuscript Division concerning Puerto Rico. Dr. Morales Carrion in his report discussed the manuscript part of this collection. His report is also appended to this study. (Appendix E) I have added to his work a more complete guide to the material found in the collection. The Library wisely adopted Dr. Morales' suggestions for the sorting and classification of these documents.

The Manuscript Division holds two very valuable microfilms, one of these is the original inventory typed under the direction of Sr. Cayetano Coll y Toste, of the 289 boxes of official documents shipped to the Library shortly after the United States occupation of Puerto Rico. This useful inventory of a vast quantity of material--much of which has been lost at this point--is in sufficient detail to be of service to historians interested in searching for material in the residue held by the National Archives. I urge the University to secure a copy of this microfilm for its own readers.

The other microfilm is not available to researchers until 1972. It is a copy of a diary of Eugenio Mara de Hostos. The original is in the possession of the sons of de Hostos but with their agreement and with the noted restrictions, the Library of Congress was able to secure a film of this priceless journal.

Material relative to Puerto Rico can also be found in the collections of private individuals donated to the Library of Congress. The manuscript Division holds some material donated by Chaplain Hoes of the Spanish American War. In Box 1 (Ac. 4159) can be found a collection of Correspondence with Congressional leaders concerning the War and federal relations with the newly acquired possessions. This material provides an excellent guide to congressional comments on Puerto Rico at the turn of the century.

Victor Clark, former Commissioner of Education of the island has also turned over material, which is indispensable to any study of the educational problems of the island. As Clark notes in his own description of the gift, many of the problems encountered when he was serving as Commissioner are still unsolved today.

The collection of two members of Congress also provide some scattered comments on Puerto Rico. One is a collection of letters of John Benson Foraker in which there are brief comments on Puerto Rican affairs by Nicholas M. Butler, Theodore Roosevelt and others, as well as the Senator himself. A list of some of these items is appended. The very extensive collection of John Sharp Williams, Senator from Mississippi contains very meager references to Puerto Rico. His material prior to 1914 in which should be found more material on Puerto Rico, has not been received by the Library. The material which is present contains comments on the island affairs and the general political scene but most of the correspondence refers to patronage. Since spot checks in the 192 boxes failed to turn up any extensive material on Puerto Rico, the limitation of time prevented a thorough search. There is in Appendix D a guide to the material which was located.

Two fairly recent donations to the Manuscript Division containing material relative to Puerto Rico complete the results of the search of this Division. Admiral William Leahy has turned over his diaries to the Library of Congress. Diary 5 covers the period from 1939 to 1940 during which Admiral Leahy served as Governor of Puerto Rico. The diary is quite disappointing in that it merely records activity with little or no personal comment interjected. A person very familiar with the administration of Leahy could sense some subtle references.

The other recent donation is the extensive (157.30 ft.) collection of private papers of Harold Ickes, Secretary of the Interior during the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt. This collection can be examined only with the permission of Mrs. Ickes and therefore cannot be fully described in this report. Mrs. Ickes was kind enough to grant me permission to examine the material.

Without violating any confidence, I feel free to state that while the Puerto Rico material is not as extensive as one would like, what is in the collection is of top historical value. For further information the reader is referred to my, forthcoming study on the New Deal and Puerto Rico.

The holdings of the Manuscript Division cover in time a four hundred year span: from the letter of Salazar, a reproduction from the Spanish Archives, to the late 1940's with the papers of Harold Ickes. This spreading out of course means very spotty coverage. However, the holdings are still of great value. Proof of this is found in the book by Dr. Morales Carrion, Puerto Rico and the Non-Hispanic Caribbean. Dr. Morales relied heavily on the reproductions of the European archives held by the Library of Congress. However, until Dr. Finan's work is completed, this material will not be fully utilized. The Gould material on Padre Rufo Fernndez is perhaps the only single collection of that pioneer educator who played such a key role in the training of the dominant figures of the latter half of the XIX century political scene. Any study of the Autonomista political party could not overlook the Gould material.

The Division's holdings of XX century material are also strong but could be made much stronger. The material on the Spanish American War could be added too. The Hoes Collection of manuscripts is disappointing. The veterans of this war and their descendents could be urged to turn material over to the Library. With the situation in Puerto Rico as it now is, the Library of Congress is in a much better position to secure this material, which is pertinent to one small branch of the Federal Administration, than any unit on the island.

Finally it should be admitted that a great deal of the odds and ends mentioned in the Appendix D is of little value unless there is wide knowledge of them by scholars. Even then I hardly know how one can make use of a lottery ticket but perhaps the fragmentary letter on the ambulance corp. could be utilized. Publication of this report and others--such as Dr. Finan's will serve this purpose.

Rare Books

The holdings of this Division related to Puerto Rico are quite unexpected and very limited. Unexpected is the word used because there are no examples of the very rare works on Puerto Rico such as the above--mentioned 1788 edition of Fray Inigo Abbad y Lasierra’s History, which is found on the general stacks. The two bound books of the Division relating solely to Puerto Rico are Las Clases Jornaleros de Puerto Rico by Salvador Brau and El Campesino Puertorriqueo by Francisco del Valle Atiles (this is an 1889 edition and not the 1887 edition noted in Pedreira).
Of course the Caribbean classics in which Puerto Rico is often mentioned are here. To those mentioned earlier in the general introduction the following authors could be added: Richard Blome, Johann Theodor de Bry, Pierre Franois Xavier de Charlevois, Thomas Coke, Thomas Jefferys, and Fathers Labat and DuTertre. In one book, De Nieuwe en Onbekende Weereld: of Beschryving van America en t' Zuid-Land ... door Arnoldus Montanus t' Amsterdam 1671, there are several references to Puerto Rico (pp. 167-170; 406-408) and an engraved plate of San Juan dated 1625. The material refers to the Dutch exploits in the Caribbean and specifically, on the pages cited, in Puerto Rico. The artist, however, has let his imagination run away with him and as a result the view of San Juan, while artistically pleasing, is a mixture of fact and fancy.

One other unexpected holding of this Division is a beautifully bound volume of periodical publications of the Nationalist Party. With the principal periodical—Pro Republica de Puerto Rico Ao I 1925 Nums. 1-10-- there are diverse flyers mixed in. Most of these are reprints of articles published in 1939-1940. A list of some of these articles and other broadsides found in the Rare Book Room is found in Appendix G.

Music Division
Little can be said about the meager holdings of this division. For an island of the Caribbean which is as productive in folk and popular music-to say nothing of its own danza-as is Puerto Rico, it is surprising and disappointing to see that the Library of Congress can refer to only a dozen or so items relating to insular music. Some attention should be directed both on the island and in the Library toward a remedy of this gap.

Newspapers
The collection of island newspapers is deceptive. There are many titles listed under Puerto Rico in the card catalog but closer examination reveals that few have any unbroken run. In fact, most of the papers are represented by only one number. The oldest Library of Congress paper is El Fenix of Ponce which runs from October 13, 1855 to December 23, 1858 with many issues missing. The picture fails to improve with the XX century. There are fewer newspapers but La Democracia is the only one which has an unbroken run up to the time of the Second World War. Concerted efforts should be made to complete the files of important dailies like El Mundo, El Imparcial, and La Correspondencia. With these three papers something could be done, but for El Pas, El Da, and others the gaps are too great to be filled. It is unfortunate that there is no major run of periodicals in the XIX century. The National Archives has an excellent series of a St. Thomas newspaper for most of the XIX century. Although printed in Danish, enough is in English to make it useful to American scholars. Finally, an effort should be made to secure copies of two recent English periodicals The Island Times and The World Journal, both published in San Juan and both important. (See Appendix H for a list of newspapers)

Map Division
This Division has a fine collection of originals and reproductions concerning Puerto Rico. The reproductions include copies of works in the Archivo General de las Indias and the Vatican Library in addition to copies of material found in various rare atlases. Four items purchased from the descendents of Lord Admiral Howe, pertaining to the XVIII century, are described in the Appendix I.

One of the prize finds of my month's work was the turning up of three very pleasing water-colored paintings of San Juan, said to be about 1824. Just why they are Maps is a little difficult to understand. The three views are A. from the east looking toward the west into the town and its fortifications; B. from the south looking north into the harbour area of San Juan; and C. from the west, slightly southwest, looking into the fortifications guarding the entrance to the harbour of San Juan. The colors are cool and pleasing with pastel shades and the work is excellently executed. The coincidence of the discovery of these three views after finding the sketches of August Plee makes me jump to a probably erroneous conclusion which is drawn more from wishful thinking than any factual comparison. The facts that the paintings are marked 1824 and Plee's visit was in 1823 lead one to speculate. While the reproductions of Plee's work are hard to compare with the original paintings, superficial similarity to an untrained eye makes me want to believe that August Plee is the anonymous painter of the three views.

Two other interesting items are 1) a plan of the hacienda Sta. Barbara of Bayamon dated 1824, and 2) a plan of a section of the harbour of San Juan with proposed expansion of dock facilities (early XIX century). Notes on these two plans can be found in the Appendix I.

The Map Division has a number of old atlases in which Puerto Rico can be located. These atlases with the appropriate plate are noted in Appendix I.

The holdings of this Division broaden out considerably around the turn of the century and the files are well stocked with recent maps of the Puerto Rican Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Administration and the present division of the insular government such as the Planning Board. The material in the Map Division is efficiently organized and easily gotten to.

Prints and Photographs
There is nothing in this division before the XIX century. However, there is abundant material after the turn of the century. There are about two hundred and fifty colored pictures for stereoptican viewers of the towns and countryside of the island about 1900. Victor Clark, Carl Grassl and others have contributed private collections of photographs to this division. These and other collections of views taken during the first decades of American rule are listed in Appendix J.

In the thirties two government agencies undertook two projects which have produced valuable holdings for the Library of Congress. The Survey of Historical American Buildings carried out about 1938 has contributed various views and plans of La Fortaleza, Porta Coeli, El Polvorin, El Morro and other historical structures around the island. The other project was carried out by the Farm Security Administration from December 1937 to January 1942. This produced a collection of some 1,500 enlarged pictures of all phases of Puerto Rican life, from cock fighting to labor troubles. The material in this division is also efficiently arranged and easily gotten to.

The Law Library
The material which I saw on Puerto Rico in the Law Library is not extensive nor is it complete. Futhermore, except for the items on the XX century, Puerto Rican material would be hard to locate. Material on Puerto Rico when it was a Spanish colony is rarely cataloged separately since Spain handled her colonies as a unit. Thus legal documents referring to Puerto Rico can be mixed in with material on Mexico or Argentina. Of course, there are some XIX century compilations of laws and royal orders pertaining to Puerto Rico. Too, decisions of Audiencias should not be hard to find. Some material can also be found under legal treatises and miscellaneous matters. All of this is cataloged under the Spanish colonies--Puerto Rico.

The holdings since the United States sovereignty are cataloged under Puerto Rico and are divided into the eight conventional categories of the Law Library. These with comments are listed in the Appendix. Strangely enough, under the seventh division is found Baldorioty de Castro’s signed copy of J. J. Acosta's edition of Fray Iigo Abbad y LaSierra’s Historia. Since this was a donation of Miss Gould to the Library, the Law Library, so it would appear, has questionable title to the work. There are a few other items which are misfiled in this section.

In the Law Library there has also been dumped some 150 pamphlets of the Gould collection. Most of these pertain to the previous century and are listed in the Appendix. They have been jammed into the dusty shelf, unarranged, uncataloged and almost forgotten. The explanation for the inexcusable neglect of this valuable collection is the lack of an adequate staff. This collection should be processed and the duplicates (of which there are quite a number) should be transferred to other libraries.

Thomas Mathews' book The Caribbean: History, Politics and Culture can be purchased at Merino & Sanchez Distributors, Inc., Ave. Las Palmas 1108 Pda. 18, P.O. Box 9024, San Juan, PR 00908-0024; Tels. 787-723-7827 & 787-723-0088; Fax 787-723-5850; email merinoysanchez@excite.com