Pablo Macedo Collection of Mexican Notarial, Mining and Colonial Documents, 1600 - 1908 (MSS 35)

Series 1) LETTER FROM PABLO MACEDO: The first item in the collection is a letter from Pablo Macedo, dated January 29, 1908, which discusses some of the materials in the collection. According to Macedo, some of the papers concern the Hacienda of Nuestra Senora del Rosario (Our Lady of the Rosary), otherwise known as "Los Reyes" (The Kings), the estate of Macedo's father. According to this letter, the estate was taken from the elder Macedo by Governor Joaquin Martinez in 1867 "by evil means." It is likely that the Macedo family collected these documents in an effort to prove Mariano Macedo's title to the property.

Series 2) MINING DOCUMENTS: Inspection reports dating from the late 18th and early 19th centuries regarding mining in several regions of Mexico. This type of document normally includes accounts of expenses and records earnings from the sale of minerals. Folder 5 contains a title document to the Peregrina mine, dated 1788.

Series 3) NOTARIAL DOCUMENTS: Notarial documents that date from the 17th century and are bound into a leather portfolio. They are the product of escribanos, or Spanish public notaries, who produced a large quantity of such documents in the Spanish colonies. The documents in the collection relate to property titles of lands in the region of Itzmiquilpa, in the countryside near Mexico City, and can be divided into three categories. The first category, called escribanias de merced, or mercedes, are related to feudal customs in the occupation of land in the Spanish Empire. The merced was a feudal title bestowed on a colonial aristocrat by the viceroy. The beneficiary of a merced acquired economical and judicial rights over a specific territory. The second category of notarial documents are cartas de venta, and refer to the sale of the feudal rights acquired with the property of a merced. According to Pablo Macedo's 1908 letter, this collection includes notarial documents signed by three of Mexico's viceroys: the marqués de Salinas, Don Luis de Velasco, dated 1609; the marqués de Guadalcázar, Don Diego Fernandez de Córdova, dated 1614; and the conde de Monterrey, Don Gaspar de Zúñega y Acevedo, dated 1601.

Series 4) MISCELLANY: Includes an account book from the town of Purisima Concepción de Landa, dated 1798; two papal bulls to the Spanish-American kingdoms, dated 1711 and 1806; and a handwritten appendix to a practical agricultural manual, written around 1869, which provides many details on 19th century Mexican agronomy. Also included are legal documents relating to the state of Querétaro (1861).