©2005 by Fort Lewis College Foundation, Center of Southwest Studies account

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Collection I  006
El Archivo de Hidalgo del Parral 1631-1821 / Parral, Mexico,
records on microfilm
Years: 1631-1821 (except, there are no records from the years 1734, 1748, and 1751)
Quantity: 324 rolls
Location in the Delaney Southwest Research Library: microfilm cabinet drawers 4.10 through 5.2

This collection includes the microfilm of more than 360,000 pages of handwritten documents (written in old-style Spanish) from the Municipal Archives of Parral, Chihuahua, Mexico, documenting the history of a Spanish frontier colonial silver mining community in the Parral district of northern Mexico.

Tips for using this collection:
A good starting place for using this microfilm is the 484-page printed index (this one is in Spanish) that was underwritten by Mr. and Mrs. George W. Chambers of Tucson, Arizona.  This two volume is located in the Center's manuscript collection M 129.  Apparently, an index in English prepared by Charles C. Di Peso, et al., also exists --  but the Center of Southwest Studies does not have that volume.  (Dr. Di Peso was one of three scholars from Arizona who made numerous working trips to Parral during 1959 and 1960 to work on the arrangement, handwriting-reading and indexing scheme for the microfilm project.)  In addition, each microfilm roll begins with a separate index of that roll's contents.  That was a preliminary index, prepared at the time of the filming of that roll.  The printed index is more accurate and more complete than the index at the start of each roll.

Reading old handwritten documents of New Spain can be a challenge.  A researcher who is experienced in using the Parral Archives remarked that "The further back in time I went, the more challenging the records were to read."  He suggests that "some scribes apparently wrote what they heard phonetically, resulting in syllables instead of words, and with no punctuation, so it often helps to try reading phrases aloud to get the meaning from the sound, then transcribe that into correct Spanish words."  He notes that some of the records from Parral "contain civil records, which would include wills, estate resolutions, property claims and transfers, court proceedings, criminal cases, etc.  I was often led to those by references made by other researchers, including the extremely helpful Documentary Relations of the Southwest (DRSW) of the University of Arizona.  The DRSW has an online search capability for general or biographical information from a large index of documents pertaining to the Southwest."  See: http://www.statemuseum.arizona.edu/drsw/index.html   This same researcher also recommends consulting the following references for help in researching old Spanish documents:

1. Barnes, Thomas C., Thomas H. Naylor, and Charles Polzer.  Northern New Spain: A Research Guide. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1981. [out of print, but search for a copy from a used bookseller]

2. Carlin, Roberta A., A Paleographic Guide to Spanish Abbreviations 1500-1700: Una Guia Paleografica de Abbreviaturas Espanolas 1500-1700, Universal Publishers, 2003. [this may still be in print]

3. Terrenos y Pando, Estevan. Paleografía Española, que contiene todos los modos conocidos, que ha habido de escribir en España, desde su principio, y fundacion, hasta el presente, á fin de facilitar el registro de los Archivos, y lectura de los manuscritos, y pertenencias de cada particular; juntamente con una historia sucinta del idioma comun de Castilla ... Madrid: Joachin Ibarra, 1887. [a rare book; the researcher viewed this while visiting in Mexico City]

Access terms:
Silver mines and mining -- Mexico -- Chihuahua (State) -- Sources.
Hidalgo del Parral (Mexico) -- History -- Sources.
Mexico -- History -- Spanish colony, 1540-1810 -- Sources.
Nueva Vizcaya (New Spain) -- History -- Sources.
Archivo de Parral.

Administrative information

About the organization of this collection:  The overall scheme of arrangement of the records is chronological.  Within each year of records, the categories of classification (as described in the preface to the printed index) are as follows:

Section 1. Causas administratiyas y de guerra -- military reports concerning native activity, official visits, and reports pertaining to such administrative activities as the number and location of royal stores for tax purposes, reports of governors and other officials, and many other matters pertaining to administration on a federal level.

Section 2. Minas solares y terrenos -- records of sale of mining property and land actions pertaining to mining properties, ranches, and other properties.

Section 3. Protocolos -- the formal protocol written during the course of the years by various city officials, dealing with city and provincial business, public records, wills, and other matters of government.

Section 4. Causas civiles -- civil court cases pertaining to suits concerning money and materials, and cultural transactions at the civil court level, including topics such as enforced slavery.

Section 5. Causas criminales -- federal criminal court cases, including murder, theft, rape, labor conflicts, etc.

Section 6. Papales Varios -- unidentified comments or parts of documents that the organizers of the microfilmed material could not otherwise classify or properly index.

Acquisition information:  The Center of Southwest Studies purchased these microfilm from Bell and Howell/ Micro Photo Inc. (Wooster/Cleveland, Ohio), between 1961 (when that company produced the original microfilm) and April of 1969 (when the Center produced a booklet describing its collections) (accession x2002:03081).

Processing information:  This inventory was prepared by Todd Ellison, February, 2005, and Elayne Walstedter compiled the online source information.

Historical note

Parral, Mexico

PARRAL ARCHIVES – some sources, and other locations of the microfilm:

From: Primary Sources in History: Latin America – Arizona State University
http://www.asu.edu/lib/hayden/ref/his/primary/latin_america.htm
HIDALGO DEL PARRAL, MEXICO. ARCHIVO, 1631-1821.  CALL NUMBER: Arizona Microfilm 7124  NUMBER OF REELS/FICHE: 323 R  INDEX OR GUIDE: Index to El Archivo de Hidalgo del Parral (CD 3676 .P313 1631 ARIZ and ARIZ Microfilm 7125).  An English translation of the original Spanish index.  The index is a guide that follows the physical organization as described below.  The film reels are numbered according to the year to which they apply.  Each reel is preceded by a guide to its contents. The last reel is a collation of all preceding reel guides and contains a Spanish edition of the index as well. In addition, there is a hard copy of the Spanish index in CD 3676 .P3 1631a ARIZ.   SCOPE AND CONTENTS: A reproduction of the municipal archive of Parral, Chihuahua, Mexico, beginning with the earliest extant documents, in 1631 and continuing to the close of the Spanish colonial period.  The documents are organized by year, each year being subdivided into subject categories relative to civil and military affairs, land and mineral entitlements, judicial proceedings and miscellaneous matters.  Documents the history of a Spanish colonial silver mining community.  Also provides primary source material for Indian uprisings, slavery, public entertainment, official residences, crime and punishment.  SUBJECTS: Silver Mines; Mexico; Spain – Colonies; Latin America; 17c; 18c; 19c

From:  TreasureNet.com
http://www.treasurenet.com/forum/treasurehunting/messages/1013655.shtml
Archivo Municipal de Hidalgo del Parral. located in the town of Parral in southern Chihuahua.  The colonial section of the archive contains a large portion of the 17th and early 18th Century documents of the missing archive of Nueva Viscaya (the old Sonora - American South West territories).  See article by Robert West in Handbook of Latin American Studies.  The University of Arizona has the collection on microfilm (MCF #318) and comprises 158 reels covering the 17th C.  Subjects include military reports, administrative activities, mining operations, protocol, civil and criminal court cases etc. All in Spanish.  There is an index of legajos 1632 - 1749. Buena Suerte.

From: Library of Congress: Guide to Latino Holdings in the Microform Reading Room  http://www.loc.gov/rr/microform/latino.html
EL ARCHIVO DE HIDALGO DEL PARRAL, 1631-1821. -- Wooster, Ohio : Bell & Howell Micro Photo Division, 1971. -- 324 microfilm reels ; 35 mm.  Microfilm 1553 (F)   A collection of documents of the Spanish colonial government in Mexico, extending as far north as Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Contents: Section 1. Causas administratiyas y de guerra -- Section 2. Minas solares y terrenos -- Section 3. Protocolos -- Section 4. Causas civiles -- Section 5. Causas criminales.
GUIDE: Accompanied by guide: _Index to El Archivo de Hidalgo del Parral, 1631-1821_.
MicRR guide no. CD3676.P313 1631.

This microfilm is also available for use at the University of Arizona (its Special Collections library -- which apparently is located in a separate building from where the microfilms are kept -- has the the English translation of the index) and at the University of California at Riverside.

Container list: (see printed guides in Collection M 129)

Because the microfilm in this collection was arranged by year, the boxes themselves serve as the guide to their contents -- just pull the microfilm roll for the year that interests you!

These collections are located at the Center of Southwest Studies on the campus of Fort Lewis College.  Interested researchers should phone the archivist at 970/247-7126 or send electronic mail to the archivist at: Ellison_T@fortlewis.edu    Click here to use our E-mail Reference Request Form.  The Center does not have a budget for outgoing long-distance phone calls to answer reference requests, so please provide an email address if you request a long-distance response to your inquiry.

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