Intern Spotlight: The Post-Conquest Life of Hernando Cortés in the Spanish Foreign Copying Program Records at the Library of Congress

This is a guest post by Madelina Homberger Cordia, who participated in the Fall 2024 Archives, History and Heritage Advanced Internship Program (AHHA) in the Manuscript Division.

The Library of Congress Manuscript Division routinely supports more than 6,000 in-person research visits each year. Physically engaging with unique collection material, its smell and texture, within the reading room is truly an incomparable experience. As a remote 2024 Archives, History and Heritage Advanced (AHHA) intern, I was unable to handle the physical documents that I arranged and described since my work was done completely offsite through my Library-issued laptop. My internship would not have been possible, however, without the technology used to scan and digitize manuscript collections and the ability to access them without visiting the Library. The funny thing about the Spanish Foreign Copying Program (FCP) records I described is that these materials are themselves copies of the originals held in archives such as the Archivo General de la Nación (AGN) in Mexico City. They are comprised of typed transcripts and photostatic copies of the originals. As they are not currently digitized, I worked from scans of key documents in the Spanish records provided to me by my reading room colleagues onsite.

In the early twentieth century, the Foreign Copying Program of the Library of Congress sent representatives to archives around the world to copy materials deemed relevant to American history. In the Spanish FCP records from the AGN in Mexico, the Hospital de Jesús series caught my eye. Thinking it would be related to medical history and the oldest hospital on the continent, the Hospital de Purísima Concepción y Jesús Nazareno (Hospital de Jesús for short), I dove into the old shelf lists and the limited description available. As I compared scans of some of the materials held in the Manuscript Division with the online descriptions at the AGN, I quickly realized that this is not at all what this series contains.

The Hospital de Jesús records chiefly relate to the administration of the Marquisate of the Valley of Oaxaca, created in 1529 by the Spanish King Charles V and granted to Hernando Cortés as a reward for his successful campaign against the Aztec empire. After Cortés’s death, his title, lands, and wealth passed directly to his heirs, some of whom are present in these documents, which date between 1531 and 1803. The series contains censuses, leases, taxes and tribute records, reports on inspections of the estates, and correspondence between the Marquis of the Valley and representatives of New Spain, including viceroys, all in Spanish. Some topics of note include the construction of churches and parish houses, road and bridge construction, workshop, mill, and farm maintenance, and registration of the Indigenous population. The Marquisate was not geographically cohesive and included portions of present-day Oaxaca state, Cuernavaca (Morelos state), and Toluca (state of México). It remains unclear how these records wound up associated with the Hospital de Jesús. The best guess is the Cortés connection. The title and estates belonged to him, and there are various stories that connect Cortés to the hospital, including one that suggests he is interred there, another that he ordered the establishment of the hospital to care for wounded Indigenous soldiers after the conquest, and even another that the hospital is situated on the site where Cortés first met the Aztec Emperor Moctezuma II in 1519.

Researchers will find more than the famous conquistador in these records. There are ample references to the Indigenous peoples that predated the Spanish conquest. Some documents feature copies of hand-drawn crop maps from estate villages and tribute payments made to the estate. Others contain registers of Indian reducciónes, which were settlements created for Indigenous people that concentrated them into one place for Catholic conversion and assimilation to Spanish cultural norms. There are even instances of Indigenous people standing up for their rights under the dual legal structure of the Spanish colonial system, as demonstrated by a petition detailing a case involving the people of Cuernavaca and a Juan de Carasa, after the Marquis of the Valley (Cortés) illegally obliged them to perform personal services. Other volumes in this collection feature legal findings in favor of Indigenous petitioners protecting them from involuntary servitude, including a 1532 case against Cortés himself, alleging that he used Indigenous residents as porters in breach of Spanish colonial law.

The Hospital de Jesús records comprise just one series in the Spanish Foreign Copying Program Records, which contain approximately 2,025 containers and more than three hundred microfilm reels. Approximately 450 of those containers include records copied from Mexican archives. These materials are available onsite in the Manuscript Reading Room, though perhaps because they have traditionally had little description, the collection has been underutilized. According to the most recent usage report in the Manuscript Division, this particular series has only been used by five researchers since 1974, and not at all in the last 20 years. My work as an AHHA intern in fall 2024 was to highlight some treasures contained in the collection and facilitate increased discoverability and access to them. When I first stumbled upon a letter written in Cortés’s own handwriting, I felt goosebumps as I stared at the image on my computer screen. I encourage others to dig into these collections and find something that resonates strongly with them in connection with the past.

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“relevant to American history. . . .” For more, see the Loretta Deaver, Patrick Kerwin, and Lara Szypszak, “Reintroducing the Foreign Copying Program Records,” Unfolding History, August 17, 2023. The Manuscript Division recently completed a guide to the records in the British Foreign Copying Program. More such guides are forthcoming.

“old shelf lists . . .” The hospital opened its doors in 1524 and was founded at Cortés’s request.

“Emperor Moctezuma . . .” None of these reasons are authoritatively confirmed, but for more, see Rodrigo Osegueda, “El Hospital de Jesús: El primer hospital de América que está construido donde se conocieron Cortés y Moctezuma,” México Desconocido, 2024, https://www.mexicodesconocido.com.mx/hospital-de-jesus.html (in Spanish).

“made to the estate. . . .” Records of the Hospital de Jesús, Mexico City, Mexico, 1524-1738, box 4592, volume 208, page 3, Foreign Copying Program, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.

“Spanish cultural norms. . . .” These reducciones served similar purposes to missions in California. Records of the Hospital de Jesús, box 4590, volume 41, page 3, Foreign Copying Program, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.

“personal services. . . .” Records of the Hospital de Jesús, box 4594, volume 276, page 84, Foreign Copying Program, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.

“Spanish colonial law. . . .” Records of the Hospital de Jesús, box 4597, volume 289, page 102, Foreign Copying Program, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.

“last 20 years. . . .” Possibly contributing to the low usage statistics for this and other series in the collection is the fact that the original shelf lists are only available in print form in the Manuscript Reading Room and are not yet accessible to remote researchers. That, combined with their minimal description, is precisely what my project as an AHHA intern sought to correct.