Benson Latin American Collection

Resources (5)

• Juan E. Hernandez y Davalos (1827-1893)

  Manuscript collection, 1692–1865, ca. 3,000 items. Mexican government worker, amateur historian, and bibliophile. Correspondence, 17 items, 1823–31, of Tomas Murphy, Jose Mariano de Michelena, Manuel Eduardo de Gorostiza, Vicente Rocafuerte, Enrique P. Virmond, and Lucas Alaman on such subjects as the Holy Alliance, Russian influence on Mexican affairs, French and Prussian desires to restrain Russia, effects on Russia of British recognition of Mexican independence, Russian plans against Turkey and Greece, Russian agreement to aid Spain in exchange for the Californias, the decline of Russian influence in Spain, the danger of Russian advances in California, Russian attention turned to the East, the naval battle of Russia, France, and England against the Turks at Navarino, trade in grain with Russian ships, the port of Sitka, an otter-hunting agreement with the Russians, and Mexican-Russian relations; copy of ordinances for San Blas, Mexico 14 December 1789, with references to Russian settlements in northern California; 2 extracts from articles handcopied by Agustin de Iturbide, 1823, in part on Russian anti-constitutionalism and about Russo-Turkish relations; Spanish translation of a speech of Lord Henry Brougham, lord chancellor of England, and other speeches, London 3 February 1824, with reference to a Russian agreement with Turkey, 6 11.; 3 letters, March-April 1824, concerning the renting of a villa in Livorno by the Russian consul; the Junta de Guerra's plan for defending the coasts of Mexican lands, 21 August 1829, which mentions the Russian settlement at Puerto de la Bodega. Published finding aid.

• Lucas Alaman (1792-1853)

  Manuscript collection, 1615–1859, 364 items. Mexican historian. ALS from Carlos Beneski de Beaufort to Alaman, Paris 16 February 1832, 1 p., about Russia, Prussia, Austria, and other matters. Published finding aid.

• Mariano Riva Palacio (1803-1880)

  Papers, 1716–1880, ca. 10,300 items. Mexican political leader. 2 telegrams from Manuel Rosas (Rozas) concerning European affairs and the end of a threat of war between England and Russia, November-December 1870; ALS of Ignacio Alvarez y Guerrero, 4 May 1871, 11., in part concerning illness and a prescription to take Russian baths; and court testimony in a case (Maumejean) involving a French national, Julian Larrede, married to a Russian woman, Mexico November-December 1857. Published finding aid.

• Valentin Gomez Farias (1781-1858)

  Papers, 1770–1892, ca. 4,700 items. Mexican political leader. 4 letters, some drafts, from Valentin G. Farias to his sons Benito and Casimiro and to Jose Trinidad Munoz, 1843–53, concerning European affairs and Russia, plus a draft of his letter to an unnamed friend, n.d. but ca. 1854?, on Russian designs on Constantinople and the Dardanelles; 8 ALS from Benito G. Farias to his father and 1 ALS from Benito to D. Julio, 1849–55, about the tsar's ambitions in the Danube region, the Russo-Turkish question, the Crimean War, Constantinople, the Dardanelles, the Black Sea, the bombardment of Odessa, and the Danubian principalities; an ALS from J. M. de Castillo y Lanzas to V. G. Farias, 2 January 1834, naming current foreign representatives in Washington, including Baron de Krudener of Russia; a translated excerpt (n.d.) from H. Chauchard's Geographie that concerns the Turkish empire, Russia, and the Black Sea; and a translation of a work on coffee, n.d., its origin, use, and adoption in Europe, with references to Dorpat and Russia. Published finding aid.

• W. B. Stephens (d. ca. 1937)

  Collection, 16th–19th c., ca. 20,000 pp. American geologist employed by a Mexican firm. A report, 1761, 13 pp., written by Ignacio Poyanos ("Carta escrita desde San Petersburgo por Don Ignacio Poyanos, Secretario de embajada del Duque de Almodovar") concerns Russian activities on the California coast.