Call Number:

Ms. Coll. 963

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

1.4 linear feet (4 boxes)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Daniel G. Brinton collection on Spain and New Spain, 1582-1854, Ms. Coll. 963, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

1582-1854 (inclusive)

Creator:

Brinton, Daniel G. (Daniel Garrison)

Form:

Correspondence and Accounts

Abstract:

Daniel Garrison Brinton (1837-1899) was a Philadelphia surgeon and anthropologist who created, collected, and donated collections of books and manuscripts related to anthropology, colonization of the Americas, and native American linguistics. This collection on Spain and New Spain documents, to a limited degree, Spain's relationships with its colonies and other European powers while struggling to maintain its empire.

Daniel Garrison Brinton, born May 13, 1837, graduated from Yale University in 1858 and from the Jefferson Medical College in 1860. Early in his medical career, he served in the Union Army as a surgeon during the American Civil War, working both on the battlefields of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg and as superintendent of hospitals at Quincy and Springfield in Illinois. He continued his career in medicine in Philadelphia until his retirement in 1887 at the age of fifty.

From 1887 until his death on July 31, 1899, Brinton focused his attention on a "wide range of subjects, including mythology and folklore, the ethnography and linguistics of American Indians from South America to the Arctic, the prehistory and physical anthropology of native North America, indigenous American literature and writing systems, among others," (Weeks, page 167). He served as professor of ethnology and archaeology at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia and as professor of archaeology and linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania. Over the years of his own study, research, and writing, he created, collected, and donated collections of books and manuscripts related to anthropology, colonization of the Americas, and native American linguistics.

Brinton collected material which documents, to a limited degree, Spain and its colonial empire, which, by the end of the 15th century, was called "the empire on which the sun never set." Spain controlled this vast area until the first half of the 19th century, when the colonies began fighting for their independence. The colonies were important economically for trade and resources and played roles in Spain's religious, political, and military development.

Works referenced:

Chamberlain, Alex F., "In Memoriam: Daniel Garrison Brinton." The Journal of American Folklore, Volume 13, Number 46 (July-September 1899), pages 215-225.

Weeks, John M. "The Daniel Garrison Brinton Collection," The Penn Libraries Collections at 250 (online exhibit: http://www.library.upenn.edu/exhibits/rbm/at250/anthropology/jw.pdf).

The Daniel G. Brinton collection on Spain and New Spain documents, to a limited degree, Spain's relationships with its colonies and other European powers while struggling to maintain its empire. The collection is arranged into five series: I. House of Abrantes y Linares, II. The Spanish Court, III. Private correspondence, IV. Official documents, V. Miscellaneous, and VI. Spanish Colonial and Foreign Relations. The physical arrangement is presumed to be Brinton's own arrangement and has therefore been maintained. The first series, House of Abrantes y Linares, contains correspondence, accounts, genealogical records, and legal documents relating to the Dukes and Duchesses of Abrantes of Portugal, dating from the late 1600s to the early 1800s. The Abrantes y Linares were Grandees of Spain (Grandes de España), the highest ranking members of the Spanish nobility, and their correspondence reflects their status in society. They corresponded with other Grandees, with people who asked them for favors, and with their bookkeepers who managed their accounts. From the records, it appears that the family business included shipping goods, as receipts for goods from owners of ships are frequently found within the material. Frequent correspondents, in addition to the Dukes and Duchesses of Abrantes, include Juan de Carvajal y Sande, Maria Micaela de Carvajal y Lancaster, Jose de Carvajal y Lancaster, Francisco Carrasco, Gonzalo Carrasco, Conde de la Enjarada, Ambrosio de Arnedo Marin (bookkeeper to the Duke de Abrantes y Linares), Juan and Rosa Cano Moctezuma, and Pedro Anselmo Sanchez de Tagle. Intellectually, these files are arranged alphabetically.

In the 1760s, after the Seven Years' War, the Spanish government and Court's relationship with Great Britain was tense. Materials in this series, The Spanish Court, document Spain's diplomatic relationship with Great Britain and the Spanish Court's trade relationships. Within the British-Spanish diplomatic relationship records, researchers will find translations of letters and documents from Jose I, the king of Portugal, Carlos III, the king of Spain, and George III, the king of England; lists of Spanish warships and British subjects seeking protection; and letters of British ambassadors and consuls in Cadiz, Malaga, and Sardinia. Of particular interest may be the nineteen letters that are presumed to be authored by Jean Joudet, a British spy and Maris of Esquilache's secretary, written to Lewis de Visme, secretary to the British embassy. Materials within the trade records document shipping, customs, orders, and taxes. The miscellaneous records include poems, list of promotions granted by Carlos II, and a report about the French settlement in Cayenne. When duplicates are listed in the contents, they are hand-written copies of the same period. Materials within this series are intellectually arranged in chronological order.

The third series, Private correspondence, 1582-1843, is intellectually arranged alphabetically by author of letter, when known, or recipient when author is not known. Frequent correspondents include Faustino de la Cruz y Bahamonde, Nicolas de la Cruz y Bahamonde, Martin Antonio de Huici, the Marquesa de Villafranca, and Ignacio Zavaleta y Zavaleta.

The fourth series, Official documents, consist of trading records, accounts, requests for favors, reports, and military records coming from cities. Some of them reflect the strained atmosphere in New Spain at the beginning of the 19th century. A good number of these documents relate to Peru and, in particular, Lima. These documents are intellectually arranged in chronological order.

The fifth series, Miscellaneous, includes documents that do not relate to Spain or New Spain. Included is a report on a mission of Capuchin monks in Africa at the end of the 17th century, and the incomplete draft of a novel relating to the adventures of Juan Dudas.

The sixth series contains three volumes. The material of Volume I is composed almost in its entirety of official correspondence between the Royal Spanish Government and its officials in New Spain. There are also printed forms, orders, commissions and bulletins. The manuscripts deal primarily with the Spanish financial, commercial and industrial interests in New Spain, viz: sales, shipments, revenues, administration of the mercury business particularly, as well as the tobacco and silver mining interests, references to the potentialities of the salt-peter trade and pearl fisheries. Also included are military orders, tax, commercial, government and anti-Jesuit decrees and analyses of wages and conditions of labor in the workshops and mines.

The group of manuscripts in Volume II deal mainly with the establishment of intendancies in Peru, the register of persons serving the Soanish government in Peru and the register of persons serving the Soanish Government in Peru and the register of provinces under the jurisdiction of the archbishoprics of Lima, Cuzco, Guamanga, Areguipa and Fraxillo and the amounts of taxes contributed by cash. There are other materials giving advice and means of collecting taxes and also formularies for various offices as provided for in the constitution. Most papers in this volume are undated printed forms not bound in chronological order.

The documents in Volume III are of a varied political nature. This volume comprises material on the Royal Spanish family, War Treaty with France, business of Royal Council, Treaty with Britain and the Southern Provinces, creation of Spanish cardinals, judgment of Regents concerning the expulstion of Jewish people from Milan. Many of the documents in this volume are copies.