Training Session PILAS @ BL 13 Nov 2015

1. Resources for Research on Latin
America:
BL and beyond
Christine Anderson - christine.anderson@london.ac.uk
Aquiles Alencar-Brayner- aquiles.alencarbrayner@bl.uk
ACLAIIR

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Acquire
relevant
research
material
Facilitate
public
access to
collections +
information
Engage in
outreach
programmes
Collection development:
 Human & Social Sciences
 Identify trends of research
(present and future)
Objectives:
 Provide support for researchers
world-wide
 Foster interest for future research
on Latin America
 Continue to develop a word class
collection
Delivered through:
 Close contact with HE institutions
 Liaise with official bodies
 Attend events, conferences and
seminars
 Plan visits and exhibitions
 User’s feedback
 Effective ways of monitoring the
development of collections in
relation to the publishing market
D
issem
ination
Care
Selection
Resources
exploitation
(e.g. treasures,
technology)
Identify
gaps +
provide
solutions
Curator

Curatorial responsibilities
External
Contact:
Media,
Diplomatic
Bodies, etc
Engagement
with
Latin American
researchers

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Curator of Latin American Studies
Expert in Latin American Studies
Cares for existing collection: facilitating and improving access,
training researchers on how to use it
Builds collection: acquires contemporary publications and
antiquarian items
Promotes and facilitates research on the subject area

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Why and how does the British Library have a
Latin American Collection?

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Collections Overview
 Latin American Collections began with the library’s
foundation in 1753.
 Legal Deposit: all Latin American titles published in the UK
are deposited in the BL.
 Latin American materials are acquired in Spanish and
Portuguese as well as English and indigenous languages.
 Acquisition focuses on research-level modern printed
monographs and serials – we acquire some second-hand
and antiquarian.
 Material acquired is broad within the humanities and social
sciences.
 Wide range of format: manuscripts, printed, electronic,
microfilm, sound, image, etc.

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Sources & Formats
Manuscripts: Official documents; personal archives; drawings, etc.
Digital resources (including digitised items, Web archive, etc.)
Printed material: Travelogues, ephemera, political pamphlets, etc.
Microfilm Collections
Sound recording: Interviews, music, etc.
Images: Photographs, engravings, moving images, posters,
stamps, etc.
Newspapers: Printed, microfilmed and digital

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Manuscripts
Examples of sources found in manuscripts
Documents related to exploration, trade, plantation life, and slavery 17-19 century
Indigenous languages
Maps and charts, Spanish and Portuguese colonial reports
Government of Buenos Aires, and the Falkland Islands and Patagonia
Documents relating to the Spanish occupation in Trinidad, Margarita, Guiana,
Venezuela and other adjacent provinces, and to the position there of the English,
Dutch, French and Portuguese, 1530-1824
Documents relating to the Portuguese occupation of Maranhão, Grão Pará and
the adjoining parts of Brazil, 1624-1822
Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, 1852 and 1861-1866 -
miscellaneous items on or from most Latin American countries

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Manuscripts
Key Collections:
Egerton, Sloane and Liverpool papers
Coventry papers
South Sea Company papers and correspondence, 1711-1856
Vansittart papers
Sir Woodbine Parish papers
Venezuelan papers
British Guiana papers
Papers of Sir Austen Henry Layard,
A more detailed list of Hispanic and Latin American manuscripts held at the BL can be found
at:
http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelplang/spanish/hispcoll/hispmanblspanish/hisman.html

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Imprints
Rare and Recent Printed Books
The BL has one of the world’s most outstanding collections of
printed books from and relating to Latin America
It ranges from key early works published in Europe and Latin
America
Such as: the Christopher Columbus letters, rare holdings of early
printed books published in Peru and Mexico, early books relating
to Latin America published in Europe
To the most recent research publications from Latin America.

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Treasures: some early examples
Juan de Zumárraga, Archbishop of Mexico, Dotrina
breve muy pvechosa de ls cosas q ptenecen a la fe
catholica y nra cristianidad: en estilo llano p comu
inteligencia G.L. (Mexico, 1543[?]; BL Shelfmark:
C.37.e.8). Published in 1543 or 1544, this work is one
of the earliest surviving Mexican imprints, of which
there are few extant copies.
Map of Tenochtitlan – the oldest surviving plan of
Mexico city possibly made for Hernan Cortes.
Woodcut from Praeclara Ferdinandi Cortesii de Nova
Maris Oceani Hispania Narratio, Nürnberg, 1524 (first
publication of Cortes's letters.) BL Shelfmark: C.20.e.9

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Maps
Bauzá Collection: Maps of the
private library of Alexander
von Humbolt
Acquired in the 1840s
Contains 260 manuscript
maps of varying sizes and 300
written geographical and
statistical texts relating to
Spanish America from about
1700 – 1830 compiled by
Felipe Bauzá .

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Digitised resources: e.g. European
Travelogues; maps, etc.
See: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:British_Library/Mechanical_Curator_collection/Synoptic_index

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Microfilm / Microfiche
Brazil’s popular groups: 1966 – 1987
Brazilian’s work party : 1980 – 2002
Latin American 20th
Century pamphlets: over 5,000 pamphlets,
grey literature, and ephemera from Latin American countries
Latin American and Caribbean official statistical serials (19th
to
20th
c) includes demography, administration, finance,
commerce, industry, labour, agriculture, education law and
public health

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Sound Archive
Examples of various collections:
World and Traditional Music
Concert performances of Latin American music organised by the Como no! promotion company
between 1993 and 1997.
Unpublished North, South and Central American holdings Wax cylinder Collections
27 cylinders of recordings of the ‘Lengua Indians of the Paraguayan Chaco’, recorded in 1910.
North, South and Central American ethnographic collections
Recordings made by Alberto Jiménez Pérez in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Hinduras,
Guatemala, Mexico and Cuba in 1999
Wildlife Sound
Extracts from Rainforest Requiem (available on CD from British Library)
Items relevant to Latin America can also be found in Jazz, Drama and Literature and Oral History.

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Images
Photographs: Catalogues > Photographically illustrated books or Photographs
Online Images and Imaging Reproduction: http://www.imagesonline.bl.uk
Stamps: Collections > Philatelic

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Databases at the British Library
Hispanic American Periodical Index
Handbook of Latin American Studies
JSTOR
19th
century Newspapers
http://braw.britishonlinearchives.co.uk/collection.php?cid=978185117
=
http://www.bl.uk/eresources/main.shtml

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Online Open Access Resources for Research
on Latin America
– WordCat (a global catalogue of library collections)
http://www.worldcat.org/
–Fundacion MAPFRE (Directorio Web de Archivos Iberoamericanos)
http://www.mapfre.com/fundacion/es/centrodocs/3_4-directorio-iberoamerican
–SALALM (Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin American Library
Materials)
http://salalm.org/collection-development-resources/special-c
– REDIAL (Red Europea de Información y Documentación Sobre
América Latina) http://www.red-redial.net/
– LAP (Latin American Pamphlet – Digital Collection from Harvard
University mostly 19th
century)
http://vc.lib.harvard.edu/vc/deliver/home?_collection=LAP

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Open access – Electronic texts and
databases
–Redalyc (Red de Revistas Cientificas de America Latina y el
Caribe, Espana y Portugal)
http://redalyc.uaemex.mx/
– Latindex
http://www.latindex.unam.mx/
–SciElo (Scientific Electronic Library Online)
http://www.scielo.br/

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Other services
– Online exhibition: Spanish American Independence
http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/features/spanishamericanind/homepa
ge.html
– Endangered Archives Programme (EAP)
http://eap.bl.uk/database/overview_project.a4d?
projID=EAP060;r=41
Blog: Americas
http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/americas/
– Twitter:
http://twitter.com/_Americas

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Current Projects
Liberalism in the Americas
Collaborative PhD projects
Training Days for Researchers
Academic Conferences
Digitisation

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Stay in touch!
For further information or enquiries you can reach me by email:
Aquiles.alencarbrayner@bl.uk or by telephone: 020 7412 7248
Keep up with the Americas at the BL through our blog:
http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/americas/
Or follow us on Twitter: BL American Studies@ _Americas

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Q&A