New Mexico -- History -- To 1848

Scope and Content A bound collection of sixty-one pages of letters and testimony concerning New Mexico and dating from circa 1785 until 1835. The documents were gathered in Spain as the result of two petitions (one in 1785, one in 1835) by Martinez de Montoya's descendants to inherit the noble rights received by him in 1606. This collection's transcripts of documents are especially important because they are notarized by Spanish officials as accurate and suggest an earlier date for the founding of Santa Fe than...

Scope and Content The collection consists of a map, "The Original Settlers of San Gabriel" and a list of the "Colonists & Soldiers who Accompanied Don Juan de Oñate to New Mexico in 1598 & Established the First Capital of New Mexico, San Gabriel." Research for the creation of both items was conducted by Antonio Gilberto Espinosa. The list of colonists and soldiers was found in the Scholes collection (MSS 360), with questionable provenance. Since it is the companion piece to the map, it was...