Year: 1965
Type: article
Abstract: T HE CATHEDRAL in Mexico City houses two separate archives, one of which contains the records of the cathedral chapter, and the other the papers and correspondence of the archbishops. Neither collection is complete, due to the fact that large numbers of documents have been removed at various times, particularly during the Juarez administration, when whole sections were confiscated by the civil authorities.' All the archiepiscopal documents were taken away at this period, and it is for this reason that the Cathedral now contains no archiepiscopal papers earlier than 1870.2 Many papers were also removed from the archives of the chapter, but sufficient remain to be of interest to the historian. It is these which form the subject of the present article. The chapter records are kept in the office known as the Haceduria de Diezmos, which is concerned with the administration of tithes. The records are those of the chapter itself and the several offices formerly involved in the collection of tithes and other related clerical revenue. In addition to these two main sections, there are many other volumes which concern various aspects of secular and religious life during the colonial period. The archives have retained approximately five hundred volumes of documents, most of which are from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, although a few items date from earlier periods. Apart from several layers of dust, all were found to be in a good state of preservation. They are stacked on twenty-one shelves and in several locked cupboards in which certain records considered of particular importance are carefully guarded. Most of the loose documents have been sorted and placed in parchment covers with a general title written in the spine. There are also several works, mostly modern, on theological doctrine, and some recent account books.
Author: Michael P. Costeloe
Language: English
Subfield: Demography
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2327573137