Treasures of the Area Studies Collections: Reconsidering Primary Sources and Collections
Latin America
The foundation of the Latin American collections at Yale was established early in the 20th century with a succession of acquisitions and gifts from Henry Raup Wagner, William S. Beebe, and Hiram Bingham. Wagner and Bingham were Yale alumni whose substantial gifts to Yale included collections rich in nineteenth-century Latin American material. These collections were notable for their historical, political, and economic materials relating to México and Perú. Hiram Bingham, Yale professor of history and curator of Yale's collection of Latin American history from 1908-1930, sold and donated to Yale a collection of Peruvian materials strong in literature, archaeology, anthropology, and folklore. His gifts also included the Francisco Pérez de Velasco library of nineteenth-century Peruvian history, and many books from the Mexican historian Genaro García. All of these acquisitions made Yale's Mexican and Peruvian collections internationally known.
The Library also has an impressive collection of Brazilian materials. The strength of the collection lies in the sizable numbers of works on Brazilian history, literature, travel accounts, and regional histories. The collection is particularly rich in materials relating to colonial Brazilian history. Other collections of major importance are those representing Argentina, Chile, Cuba, and the Cuban Revolution. Yale is also a key repository of Central Americana. Spanish and Portuguese literatures are also strongly represented in the collections.
Although Yale's concentration of Latin American research material is housed in Sterling Memorial Library, there are important collections in the Divinity, Law, and Beinecke Libraries. Smaller collections are found in the Music, Art, and Medical Libraries, and the Peabody Museum. Marx Science and Social Science Library contains extensive holdings of statistical publications issued by government agencies, private institutions, and central banks from every country in Latin America.
Check out the Research Guide for Latin American and Caribbean Resources to learn more.
Codex Reese
Figures along the left border portray a succession of Indian governors of Mexico City, ca. 1536-1565, consisting of Don Diego de Alvarado Huanitzin (Panitzin), Don Diego de San Francisco Tehuetzquititzin, Don Esteban de Guzmán, Don Cristóbal de Cecepátic (Cecetzin), and Don Luis de Santa María Cipac (Nanacacipactzin), in addition to a Spanish governor, identified as probably Don Luis de Velasco, Viceroy of New Spain. Each figure includes a name glyph and number of years that they held their colonial office., Footprints depicted along the left edge of the map probably represent a road or footpath. Figures along the upper edge of the map symbolize forty-one solar years. A strip of water depicted along the lower edge of the map may signify a lake, canal, or other body of water, which irrigates the rows of plants and traverses the map, and becomes paralleled in the upper margin by a representation of a Catholic church and a row of seven native houses., and Nahuatl map on maguey paper documenting agricultural holdings in the Valley of Mexico, probably fields of bulrush or maize under the colonial jurisdiction of Tenochtitlan-Mexico City, ca. 1565.
Spanish Civil War Collection
The collection documents society and events during the Spanish Civil War. Formats include magazines and comic books, handbills, pamphlets, broadsides, manuscripts, and toys. Both Nationalist and Republican perspectives are represented in the materials. Materials date between 1936-2011, with the bulk between 1936-1943.
This photo specifically shows a comic book, Franco flipbook of him giving the Fascist salute, photos of refugees on the border with France, and letters from POWs.