The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1917-07-11
HISTORIC DOCUMENTS STORED
IN SEVILLE PALACE.
Papers Tell Of Spain's Relations to Col
onies of the New World--4O,0OO Pack
ages Are Neatly and Conveniently
Stacked Away IN Open Shelves.

Seville is becoming the mecca or Amer
lean historians.
The structure is veritable treasure
house Of authentic facts concerning the
colonial period of all the Spanish speak
ing countries of the New World, as well
as a mine of information relative to the
early history of a very large part of the
United States.
The house is known as the Casa
Lonja and the treasures 1t contains con-
sist of the general archives of the In
dies, that wonderful collection of un-
published, unedited, and for the most
part even unindexed original documents,
reports, letters, etc, which practically
embrace the administration Of the col
onies under the dominion of Spain in all
the Americas. The mother country kept
in very close touch with her children
across the sea, and these documents
form an almost inexhaustible mine of
historical facts.
The idea Of forming special archives
of the Indies is due to King Carlos III
and his minister, the Count of Florida
Blanca. The initiative seems to have
been taken at the suggestion Of the cele-
brated Juan Bautista Munoz, who at
that time was gathering material for his
projected history of the New World.
House Once Sevilles Exchange.
The Casa Lonja at Seville was de-
cided upon as the site for the new ar
chives. This house. designed by the
architect Juan de Herrera, was built in
the reign of Philip ii at the request of
the Archbishop Cristobal de Rojas, to
serve as a Casa de Contradiction or ex-
change, for the increasing commerce of
Seville. 1t was completed in 1898. To
prepare 1t for the reception of the ar
chives extensive alterations were made
by the direction OF Munoz that inter-
fered considerably with the plan Of
Herrera.
The transfer Of the documents to 1t
from Madrid, where they had been held
at court, took place in 1885. Since then
there have been added other collections
one OF the latest additions being papers
from the archives Of Habana, trans.
fered in 1883.
marble staircase leads TO the other
floor Of the building where the docu-
ments are kept in docketed bundles in
handsome mahogany cases Of the Doric
order. There are about $4,000 pack.
ages in the archives, with an average
of so documents TO a package, so that
It is estimated that the entire oollec.
tion contains some 100000 documents.
These papers have been utilized by
scholars in both hemisphei es since
the days Of Munoz. and they have served
as a basis for the vast collection Of
documents in editos for the history Of
the Spanish possessions beyond the seas.
The first series Of forty-two volumes Is
regarded as a continuation OF the docu.
ments ineditos Of Navarrete. II was
published under the direction OF Luis
Torres de Mendoza and Of several col.
laborators The second series, in twelve
volumes. was published by the Royal
Academy of History.
Thanks to climatic conditions at Sc
vile, good care. and ink Spanish officials
have always employed. the documents
as a whole are in admirable condition;
very few are illegible. many are as
beautiful as engravings done In sepia.
Millions Of Documents.
Wrapped in strong blue paper into
some 10000 packages legajos) OF con
venient size, they are stacked away
upon the open shelves OF the cases
which line the walls OF Lonja, a two
story building a city block square. Each
package bears a label with a number
indicating its order In the series OF
which II is a part, and others showing
the shelf and case where II belongs
Those who arranged the archives re
spected the fields within which these
papers originated; the old judicial sur
vey OF the Americas into Audiencias per
sists here. The documents which orig
mated in Spain are as conveniently
grouped, so that the whole collection
Is accesslble-thanks 10 the sensible re
gard maintained for geography anc
chronology.
Three small manuscript indices are
the key to the largest part OF the col
lection. There are supplementary indices
OF far more imposing size 20 the sub
divisions called contradiction, justicia
and that collection within collection
known by the title OF el patronato. But
IL Is the three small books, written out Q
generation ago and hopefully labeled
provisional index" which have beer
thumbed into dilapidation in the course
OF hard use since.
Within the packages which they en-
able an investigator TO bring forth, th'
documents are not numbered or classi
fled except roughly by date, save In 1
few instances: the bundles within whicl
the documents are so numbered. o.
patiently listed in extract. paper by pa
per. on pages folded into legajo itself
are indication that at one time CON
mencement was made on the herculeai
task Of indexing these great arohive
In detail.
A Treasure House Of History.
The value of the material which wou
thus be opened to exploration by stu
dents everywhere Is beyond question
These documents are the letters OF vice
roys and governors OF the crown; cour
Gil papers royal degrees and cedulas
letters OF minor officials OF every sort
civil, military and ecclesiastic; paper
OF lawsuits. petitions, memorials. etc
In brief. the record OF Spanish admir-
lstratlon OF all the western world fror
the era OF its discovery down to IN
varying dates on which revolution wrot
flnls TO chapter after chapter OF IN
story they comprise. OF n whole hemii
phere's colonial development. To con
nlernonf n sofne Of tho reDtiblics noasoa