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Area Studies Collections

INTRODUCTION

USING AREA STUDIES COLLECTIONS

CASE STUDIES: AMERICAN JEWISH WOMEN AND LATINAS
American Jewish Women
Latinas
Using the Collections
Selected Collections
Audiotapes

arrow graphicManuscripts

Film Materials

Copyright

Newspapers

Journals and Newsletters

Maps

Photographs

Folk Songs and Folklife

Cookbooks

Genealogical Research

CONCLUSION

AREA STUDIES EXTERNAL SITES

VISIT/CONTACT

Manuscripts

The Manuscript Division holds microfilm and photocopies of archival and manuscript collections held in archives throughout the United States and abroad. For example, “Spanish Archives of New Mexico (1621-1821)” on twenty-two reels of microfilm includes the official documents of the central and local government then under Spanish control. The East Florida Papers (65,000 items; 1737-1858) has marriage licenses for 1785-1803 as well as proceedings from the town council of Saint Augustine from 1812 to 1821. In 1905, the Library established a Foreign Copying Program that brought together many types of reproductions—hand-copied, photostats and photocopies, and microform—from the millions of pages found in archives from around the world. The copies and films from the Archivo General de la Nación of Mexico are excellent sources for the Latina past. Manuscripts filmed at the Archivo Histórico Nacional and the Archivo General de Indias in Spain are also fruitful sources for researchers interested in searching for the context of women's lives during the period of Spanish colonial rule in what has become the United States. An excellent guide to these materials is found in The Hispanic World, 1492-1898/El Mundo Hispánico, 1492-1898: A Guide to the Photoreproduced Manuscripts from Spain in the Collections of the United States, Guam, and Puerto Rico, edited by Guadalupe Jiménez Codinach (Washington: Library of Congress, 1994; Z663.32.H54 1994 MRR Alc).

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