The AGI collection contains 217 volumes, 107 reels of microfilm and 21 boxes of documents. The documents are photostat, photocopy or microfilm formats of handwritten Spanish paleographic script, with a few written in Mayan, Latin, Italian and French. Most of the photostats were bound into volumes between 1938-41 through funding from the Historical Records Survey of New Mexico Project, a WPA program. There are typed Spanish transcriptions for some of the documents. The folders contain the remaining odd sized copied documents, the transcriptions and miscellaneous notes by Bloom, Scholes and others. Bloom and Scholes' purpose for the collection was to provide a chronological history of the "lost" early decades of New Mexico from exploration and founding through the Pueblo Revolt to the Reconquest and resettlement. They also included some material from the northern provinces of the Viceroyalty of Mexico (Provincias Internas) to understand the patterns of development there and how that influenced New Mexico. As they saw them in the archives, Bloom and Scholes both collected a few interesting documents about areas adjacent and linked historically to New Mexico such as Texas, Florida, California, and Louisiana. Scholes added significant documents to the collection on the history of conquest and post-conquest eras of central and western Mexico, Cortes and Yucatan. He included some material about the Caribbean, Central America, and the Viceroyalty of Peru and the Philippines showing the origins of early colonial policies and their impact on events in the later development of New Spain. Scholes believed New Mexico, Mexico and the rest of Spanish America (Latin America) shared a common history and should be studied in comparison to each other. Thus he collected information on contracts, instructions, institutions, and leaders from across the Spanish empire that helped him understand the forces at work in the New World. Given here briefly are the main topics or persons in the documents of this collection by region. New Mexico. Topics include the exploration and settlement of New Mexico; the roles of Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, Marcos de Niza, Esteban, the Black, Antonio de Espejo, the Rodriguez-Chamuscado Expedition, Gaspar Castaño de Sosa, Juan de Oñate, Gaspar Perez de Villagra, soldier citizens like Cristobal de Anaya and Juan Domínguez de Mendoza, etc.; the importance of places as San Juan, Acoma, Santo Domingo, Zuni and other pueblos, San Gabriel, San Juan de los Caballeros, Cibola, Quivira, etc. Crown support for the colony, civil administration, the Santa Fe cabildo, governors and officials such as Pedro de Peralta, Juan de Eulate, Luis de Rosas, Diego Dionicio de Peñalosa, Bernardo López de Mendizábal, Gervacio Cruzat y Gongora, Francisco Cuervo y Valdes, Pedro de Mendinueta, Pedro Rodriguez Cubero, Juan de Zumarraga, and others, where governors served before and after their time in the colony, etc.; politics; the conflict between the governors and the clergy, etc. Missions, missionaries, Franciscans, conversion of the Indians; reports on conditions in the colony, treatment of the Indians, the role Alonso de Benavides, Tomas Manzo, Alonso de Posada, and others, church and state relations. Spanish settlers, population, society; the economy, mining, estancias, resources, horses, cattle, trade and travel on the Camino Real, caravans, supplies, some references to encomiendas, Indian labor, and tribute; the role of El Paso, support for New Mexico from the northern frontier provinces of Mexico. Spanish relations with the Pueblos, Hopi, Apaches, Navajos, the Jumanos; pre-1680 revolts, the 1680 Pueblo Revolt, the years in El Paso, reconquest and resettlement; the Santa Fe presidio, defense of the colony; Antonio de Otermin, Francisco de Ayeta, Diego de Vargas and later governors; founding of Albuquerque, Santa Cruz, Galisteo, and other places; Juan de Ulibarri; Pedro Vial's expedition to St. Louis and Natchitoches; Pedro Pino and Spanish Cortes, etc. Northern and Western Mexican provinces - (Provincias Internas) Nueva Galicia, Nueva Vizcaya, Sonora, Nuevo Leon, Sinaloa, Michoacan, Oaxaca, Tlaxcala. Puebla, Zacatecas, Guadalajara, Chihuahua, Hidalgo de Parral, El Paso, Coahuila. Exploration, settlement, expansion, administration, governors, the Ibarras, politics, regulations,etc. Spanish - Indian relations, slavery, treatment and defense of the Indians. Frontier wars, defense, soldiers, presidios, service records, reports. Teodoro de Croix, Pedro de Rivera, etc. Missions, conversion of the Indians, building churches, education, hospitals, church state conflicts, reports. Spanish society, conditions, mining, economy, trade, caravans, Indian labor. Support for New Mexico, sending officials, missionaries, settlers, supplies, transfer of ideas and practices to the northern colony. U.S. Spanish Borderlands. Alaska, Russian affairs, 1770s, Indian relations, letter in French about events. California, discovery, exploration of coast, Sebastian Vizcaino, Juan Rodríguez de Cabrillo, Juan de Paéz, Sebastian Ríos Cermeño, etc. Settlement, crown support, recruiting settlers. Ties to Philippines, China, Arizona and Sonora, descriptions, reports, founding Monterrey, Juan Bautista de Anza. Missions, Padre Kino and others. Defense, building forts, English attacks on California coast, service records of officials, soldiers. Florida, exploration. Hernando de Soto, and counter claims to Pacific and Nueva Galicia. Settlement, administration, Pedro de Melendez de Avila, Tristan de Luna y Arellano and others. Conditions of Indians, missions, conversion, bad example of Spanish to Indians. Defense, possible routes between New Mexico and Florida, from Zacatecas mines to Florida. Texas, Louisiana, Illinois, settlement, missions, crown support, defense, commerce. French in Texas and Louisiana, colonies of France. Mississippi River, Gulf of Mexico. English colonies, Spanish involvement in the U. S. revolution. Missions in Texas, Illinois. Pedro de Vial to Texas. American intrusions and contraband; United States' desire to overtake Texas from Spanish. Española, Santo Domingo. Crown contracts with various early explorers, instruction for colonization and treatment of Indians; Diego Colon, royal administration, repartimientos, etc.; Bartolome de Las Casas, defense of Indians; Negro slavery; Indians, caciques, tribute, policies, etc. Viceroyalty of New Spain, Mexico. Exploration, conquest, settlement. Hernán Cortés, Panfilo de Narvaéz, Pedro de Alvarado, Alvarado family, Bernal Diaz de Castillo, Nuño de Guzman, Francisco de Valderrama, Gonzalo de Sandoval, Rodrigo de Paz, Vicente de Zaldivar, lists of men in the conquest, etc. Crown support, royal officials, the Audiencia, Consejo de Indias, the viceroys, regulations, etc. Missions, conversion of Indians, conditions, Native testimony, school, hospitals, teaching Indians Spanish, church state conflict, competition between orders, the Inquisition, etc. Aztecs. Spanish - Indian relations, policies, the impact of the conquest, humanism, role of the caciques, Montezuma family (descendants), Indian rights, Indian officials, land use, etc. Origins of African slavery, Black issues, mestizos and mestizaje. Encomiendas and encomenderos, tribute, New Laws, protection and treatment of the Indians. The treasury, trade, piracy, defense. Economy, land use, ranching, cochineal, mining (silver). Society, orphans, hospitals, women's rights, marriage, inheritance, regulations, etc. Mexico City, Cuernavaca, Zacatecas, Tlaxcala, and other locations in central Mexico. Yucatan. Exploration, conquest, settlement, administration, governors, officials, Francisco de Montejos and others. Encomiendas, treatment of Indians, economy, trade. Missions, conversion, Bishop Diego de Landa, the Inquisition, Lutherans, church and government conflict. Indian idolatry, human sacrifice, role of caciques, Indian rights, Native testimony. Maya, Chontal. Defense, English and French pirates. Mérida, Campeche, Tabasco, Panuco, Cozumel, etc. Guatemala, Honduras, Central America. Administration, regulations, encomiendas, tribute, diezmos, condition of Indians, Protector de Indios, Francisco Marroquín, Francisco de Montejo, Pedro de Alvarado, Juan Vasquez de Coronado, etc. Viceroyalty of Peru. Includes Chile and Venezuela, regulation of Indian labor in Chile; Pedro de Peralta, as Treasurer of Hacienda Real, in Venezuela; monetary affairs, conditions, 1640s. Caracas. Many of policies, regulations for New Spain were also sent to Peru. Philippines. Many of the problems and policies for New Spain were also related to the Philippines, missions, settlement, mining, trade, defense, etc.
