This collection contains a variety of materials dealing with social and political life in Mexico from the late eighteenth century through the early twentieth century, although the majority of materials are from the early years of the Mexican republic. Mexico gained independence from Spain in the early part of the nineteenth-century and formulated a constitution in 1824. The documents and publications in the collection illuminate the complex political and socio-religious events during this period. The collection is divided into 2 series, Publications and Documents. Subseries to both series are politics, education and religion. The political material most overtly addresses the period surrounding the formation of a republican government in Mexico. Contained herein are an assortment of governmental treatises, decrees, public notices, as well as anti-governmental critiques by private and secular parties. There are many documents dealing with the actual struggle for independence, and the activities and eventual arrest of Antonio López de Santa Anna in 1832. The education materials, although few in number, contain pedagogical and curricular materials dealing with public and private education in nineteenth-century Mexico. The religious material includes items such as Latin sermons, various orations, Otomì-language catechism, pastoral cards and flyers announcing the time and place of certain masses in Mexico City. Many of these documents and publications contain stunning examples of letter-press and relief printing in the Mexican republic.
