Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

Collection of Aztec [Nahuatl]and other native Mexican language documents, ca. 1547-1906, Accession # 10784, Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

The Central American Indian Language Collection was transferred by deed of gift to the Library on November 14, 1988, by Jefferson National Bank Administrative Officer, Frank T. Vaughn, Jr., of Charlottesville, Virginia.

Provenance

This collection was formerly part of the William E. Gates Collection.

Scope and Content Information

This collection consists of sixty-nine manuscripts and broadsides, ca. 1547-1906, chiefly linguistic in nature, and of a uniformly Mexican origin. The majority of documents are Aztec, a Nahuatl-speaking tribe of Indians who dominated much of Mexico at the time of the Spanish Conquest (1519-1521). Other Indian dialects in this collection include: Mazatec, Mixtec, Zapotec, Cuicatec, Chinantec, Mazahua, Oaxacan, and several unidentified dialects.

Most of these manuscripts were practical aids to parish priests in their ministry among Indians, including confesionarios, containing lists of questions, statements, responses, and vocabulary in both Spanish and the native language that a confessor might use in his work; catechisms and prayers in Spanish and the native language; doctrina, and vocabulary lists, both in Spanish and the native tongue.

Several documents are unrelated to Indian languages. These include: a petition for admission to the Real Colegio de Abogados in Mexico City (1802); a report to the Audiencia of Mexico by the King's fiscal (1779); a Special Indulgence from the Inquisitor General in Spain in favor of the Hospital in Yllescas (1602); a Special Indulgence by the Primate of Toledo to the Nuns in Oaxaca (1745); Report regarding the unlawful arrest of former U.S. Consul John Black by complaint of William Parrott (1836); Account records in Spanish for Rural laborers employed on a private estate (1884-1889); and a Diploma in the Madrid Academy of Jurisprudence and Legislation (1840).

These manuscripts were once part of a much larger collection known as the William E. Gates Collection which was sold in 1924. William Edmond Gates (1863-1940) was the President of the Maya Society, Honorary Professor of the Museo Nacional de Mexico, and a Research Associate of The Johns Hopkins University who devoted his scholarly life to researching the civilization of the Indians of Mesoamerica, especially the Mayan language.

According to Gates, "The Collection was begun twenty-five years ago [1898] with the idea of gathering and leaving as a permanent foundation for students everything possible bearing on the languages, history and archaeology of the Indian races of Middle America--particularly the Maya civilization of Guatemala and Yucatan."

Organization

The folders are arranged chronologically and each folder includes the Gates catalog number if known. The identification of the documents was derived by matching them with the description in the Gates catalog or the notes of William Taylor, University of Virginia, Department of History.