Accession number(s): 88-133; 92-7154
Published
The series consists of 24 microfilm reels, acquired by Freeman Tovell in the course of his research. The reels contain copies of documents concerning Spanish exploration, settlement, and missionary work from San Blas in Mexico to Alaska.
One reel [A01773] duplicates records in the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, Los Angeles, 1595-1818, including journals of Francisco Antonio Mourelle, 1779, and Jose Maria Narvaez, 1788.
The other 23 reels [A01774-A001795] are copies of microfilm made by the Bancroft Library of records in the Archivo General de la Nacion, Mexico City, 1773-1818. They include documents relating to settlements in California and Nootka Sound, and explorations by Juan Perez, Estevan Martinez, Bodega y Quadra, Ignacio Arteaga y Bazan, Manuel Quimper, Francisco de Eliza, Jacinto Caamano, and others. While a great many of these records concern the port of San Blas and what is now California, this material is also significant for the large number of documents concerning the exploration of the coast of British Columbia and the Spanish settlement at Nootka.
Donated to the Archives by Freeman Tovell in 1988 and (reel A01814) Nov.1995.
* KHUGHES 2014-04-23
Revised Khughes 2018-03-28
A listing of the series, and in some cases volumes and "principal items", found in the Archivo General de la Nacion including those microfilmed by the Bancroft Library, is available in Herbert Bolton's Guide to Materials for the History of the United States in the Principal Archives of Mexico (Washington, 1913) (BC Archives Library call number: NW 016.973 B694).
Transcripts of some of these records, and translations of a few others, are available in the British Columbia Archives. In the Historia Series, transcripts of almost all of volume 68, as well as parts of volumes 67, 69, 70 and 71, are available under number A/A/10/M57. File 15 in volume 98 of the Marina Series has been completely transcribed and is found in A/A/10/M57m. Translations of some documents in volume 63 of the Historia Series are available in A/A/10/M57t.
May not be copied, in whole or in part, without the written permission of the Clark Memorial Library (reel A01773) or the Bancroft Library (reel A01774-A01795, A01814).
Citations of documents in reels A01774-A01795 and A01814 must be: "Document in the Archivo General de la Nacion, Mexico, on microfilm in the Bancroft Library", including the series (ramo), volume number, and file (expediente) number.
http://search-bcarchives.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Document/Finding_Aids_Atom/MS-2501_to_MS-3000/ms-2826.pdf
An item level description, in Spanish, of records in volumes 62 to 71 of the Historia series is included in the printed finding aid. An English item level description of reels A01773 to A01781, prepared by Dr. Mercedes F. Durán-Cogan under the direction of the Vancouver Spanish Pacific Historical Society (Instituto de Historia del PacÃ\-fico Español), is also included in the printed finding aid.