Spanish Colonial Manuscript Collection
Item
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Country
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US
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Language of name of institution
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eng
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Contact information: postal address
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1400 N Gilcrease Museum Rd, Tulsa, OK 74127
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Contact information: phone number
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001 (918) 631-6449
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Contact information: email
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hcarlibrary@utulsa.edu
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Reference number
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MC.1954.93
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Type of reference number
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Call number
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Title (official language of the state)
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Spanish Colonial Manuscript Collection
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Language of title
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eng
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Creator / accumulator
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George Robert Graham Conway
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Date(s)
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1470/1857
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Date note
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Transcripts and translations: mid-20th century
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Language(s)
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eng
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spa
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Extent
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275 storage units
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Type of material
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Textual Material
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Scope and content
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The Spanish Colonial Manuscript Collection is comprised of the Conway Collection and other related manuscripts, which was also formerly known as the Hispanic Documents Collection. The collection includes documents on civil and government matters in New Spain, lawsuits and civil trials in the Mexico jurisdiction of New Spain, genealogical records, personal letters, ecclesiastical documents, and Spanish royal correspondence, among others. However, the largest part of this collection is composed of documents related to the activity of the Inquisition of Mexico, in particular inquisitional trials on a wide variety of matters, including trials of individuals accused of practising Judaism.
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Archival history
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The Spanish Colonial Manuscript Collection was gathered by George Robert Graham Conway. Thomas Gilcrease purchased 125 volumes, folders, and documents directly from Conway, including records of the Inquisition of Mexico. There are another 150 Spanish Colonial volumes, folders, and documents that were not acquired as part of the initial unit and are not mentioned in the Conway papers. However, all Spanish Colonial material is carefully catalogued under a separate cover, compiled by Dr C. L. Strout of the University of Tulsa in the 1960s.
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(source: Gilcrease Collections: Spanish Colonial Manuscript Collection)
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Administrative / Biographical history
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George Robertson Graham Conway (1873–1951) was born in Southampton and educated at Tauntons School and Hartley University College, Southampton. In 1898, he was appointed resident engineer for the City of Aberdeen, in which role he designed and constructed the Girdleness Outfall Scheme, and was the engineer of the re-building of Union Bridge and other public works in the city. He moved to Mexico in 1907, where he was appointed chief engineer and official representative of the Monterrey Railway, Light and Power Company, and the Monterrey Water and Drainage Company of Monterrey, Mexico; for whom he designed and oversaw the construction of the first extensive water and drainage, electric light and power, and tramway systems for the city. In 1910, he was appointed chief engineer and assistant general manager of the British Columbia Electric Railway Company, Vancouver (Canada) but returned to Mexico in 1916 as managing director (from 1927, president) of the Mexican Light and Power Company Ltd. and the Mexico Tramways Company, Mexico, D.F.. He resigned from the Mexico Tramways Company in 1942 and died in Mexico City on May 20, 1951.
Conway published several professional papers in engineering periodicals, but his real research interest lay in Mexico's Early Colonial history. By 1920, he had built up an extensive personal library and spent over 20,000 dollars having Inquisition records in Mexican archives and elsewhere transcribed and translated.
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(source: University of Aberdeen Library online catalogue)
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Access, restrictions
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The collection is open for use by appointment only at the Helmerich Center for American Research (HCAR).
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Author of the description
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Carla Vieira, 2022
Linked resources
Items with "Existence and location of originals: Spanish Colonial Manuscript Collection"
| Title |
Class |
| France V. Scholes Papers |
|
