Mexico
Item
Country
IL
Name of institution (English)
The Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People
Name of institution (official language of the state)
Language of name of institution
heb
Contact information: postal address
Edmond J. Safra Campus, Givat Ram, Jerusalem 91010
Contact information: phone number
00972 2-6586249
Contact information: web address
Contact information: email
cahjp@nli.org.il
Reference number
ME
Type of reference number
Call number
Title (official language of the state)
Mexico
Language of title
eng
Creator / accumulator
The Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People
Date note
16th century/20th century
Language(s)
deu
eng
fra
heb
spa
yid
Extent
344 storage units
Type of material
Textual Material
Scope and content
The Mexico collection comprises extensive materials from Jewish communities in Mexico, such as the Kehila Ashkenazi de México (Ashkenazi Community in Mexico) the Nidje Israel and the Unión Sefaradí (Sephardic Union), and several Jewish organisations and educational institutions, such as the Colegio Israelita de México (Jewish School in Mexico) and the Colegio Hebreo Sefaradí (Jewish Sephardic School). Most documentation dates from the 20th century, but there are numerous files dating back to the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, especially the documents relating to the Mexican Inquisition. The collection contains several typewritten copies of Inquisition files from the Archivo Historico Nacional Madrid and the Archivo General de la Nación Mexico, including, for instance, the trial of Pedro Fernandez de Castro (1642), native of the city of Valladolid in Castille; the proceedings against Diego Diez Nieto (1596), resident of Oporto in the kingdom of Portugal; the proceedings against Juan Pacheco de Leon (1642), alias Salomon Machorro, native of the city of Antequera in Spain and merchant of the town of Queretaro; and the proceedings against Leonor Martinez (1647), daughter of Tomás Tremiño and Maria Gómez. The collection also includes witness testimonies testifying, for instance, against Doňa Micaela Herriquez, among other defendants. In addition, there are dated lists ordered alphabetically of the people burned at the stake, reconciled and penanced in New Spain since the establishment of the Inquisition on that land, and files with information on several people who had been prevented from going to New Spain for being descendants of people burned at the stake, reconciled or penanced by the Inquisition.
Archival history
The CAHJP holds papers of numerous international, national and local organizations and over 300 private collections from the 16th to the 20th centuries from all over the world. It contains about 6,000 linear metres of documents, records and files (60,000,000 pages of documentation); 1,600 archives of communities, organizations and individuals; 18,000,000 frames of microfilmed documents; 2000 lists and inventories of documents and files concerning Jews, held in other archives; 15,000 photographs of Jewish personalities and sites; 8,000 printed statutes, reports, leaflets, posters and handbills; 1,200,000 newspaper clippings on various subjects; 15,000 books and publications on Jewish history.
Administrative / Biographical history
The Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People (CAHJP) were established in 1939. They hold the archives of hundreds of Jewish communities, as well as of local, national and international Jewish organizations and the private collections of many outstanding Jewish personalities. The Archives now hold the most extensive collection of documents, pinkassim (registers) and other records of Jewish history from the Middle Ages to the present day. The Board of Directors is composed of representatives of the Government of Israel, The Historical Society of Israel, The Jewish Agency for Israel, The Israeli Academy of Sciences and Humanities, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Tel-Aviv University and Bar-Ilan University. On January 30 2013. The Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People and the National Library of Israel (NLI) signed an agreement to implement a merger between the Archives and the Library. By joining the Library the Archives will be able to avail themselves of the Library’s resources and facilities to gain access to more and more repositories of Jewish archival material and to make the contents of their vast holdings more available to a wider public.
Access points: locations
Access points: corporate bodies
Access points: subject terms
Access points: document types
System of arrangement
The collection is divided into ten series, namely: 1) Agrupación "Bund" en México y Sociedades Adjuntas; 2) Comunidades en Mexico City; 3) Educacíon Judía; 4) Guadalajara - Comunidad Israelita; 5) Instituciones y Organizaciones Politicas, Educativas y Culturales; 6) Inquisición en México; 7) Movimientos Juveniles; 8) Organizacíon Territorial; 9) Periódicos y Publicaciones; and 10) Varios.
Access, restrictions
The collection can be accessed in a reading room and in rooms with microfilm readers.
Links to finding aids
Existence and location of originals
Author of the description
Joana Rodrigues, 2023
Linked resources
Filter by property
| Title | Alternate label | Class |
|---|---|---|
| הארכיון המרכזי לתולדות העם היהודי (The Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People) | Collections (official language of the state) |