Municipal and government documents relating to official policies, civil matters, contracts, litigation, war, and state infrastructure development in Baja California, including Santo Tomas, Rosarito, Mexicali, Tecate, Tijuana, and other towns and cities.
Baja California Government Documents Collection, 1831-1982 (bulk 1850-1930) (MSS 778)
Restrictions: For preservation reasons, onsite researchers are required to use digitized versions
of the documents. Permission to consult originals may be granted by the Program Director.
Extent: 17.8 Linear feet (44 archives boxes)
The administrative and custodial history of these materials is unknown.
Municipal and government documents relating to official policies, civil matters, contracts, litigation, war, and state infrastructure development in Baja California, including Santo Tomas, Rosarito, Mexicali, Ensenada, Tecate, Tijuana, and other towns and cities. Documents include official handwritten correspondence, petitions, requests to purchase land, settlements and maps, mine registers, and other materials that document daily life and municipal administration in Baja, especially throughout the turbulent period including the Mexican War, 1846-1848 and the Mexican Revolution, 1910-1920.
Materials are not arranged in any particular order, but are divided into two lists based on the original accessioning of the material. The order, which does not have a discernable structure, reflects the arrangement of the papers as they were upon receipt by the Library. Key-word searching across the finding aid, and searching by date in the digitized component of the collection, is recommended for finding specific topics or locales.
Arranged in two series: 1) DOCUMENTS PROCESSED IN 2016, and 2) DOCUMENTS PROCESSED IN 2019-2021.
These materials were purchased in four batches from a bookseller who provided preliminary descriptions for some of the documents. When they were accessioned, the original arrangement of the papers -- which otherwise did not appear to have a dicernable order -- was preserved so catalogers and researchers could refer to the existing descriptions. When the collection was prepared for digitization, bulky folders were divided up into their component files, still maintaining the original order, and the file descriptions were enhanced when possible. Strings and bindings that held discrete files together were removed, but all previously "sewn" files remain housed together in their own folders to preserve context. Descriptions, folder titles, and dates were reviewed and enhanced in 2019-2021. Further corrections or enrichments may be brought to the attention of Special Collections staff.