In 1868, Manuel Payno

1 “Indispensable in a Civilized Society, as Necessary as Food:” A Consideration of Manuel Payno’s ‘Monumental’ Effort to Found the Biblioteca Nacional de México by Phillip Jones 1111 6th Ave. Grinnell, IA 50112-1690 Office phone: 641-269-3355 Fax: 641-269-4283 [email protected] 2 This article combines history, biography and the translation of a nineteenth-century primary source to consider the role of Manuel Payno, a Mexican government official and noted writer, in establishing his country’s National Library. Included first are profiles of Mexican library history and of Manuel Payno which provide context for the appended English translation of Payno’s 1869 article requesting continued government funding to complete the Biblioteca Nacional. It is, however, Payno’s own writing that reveals the merit of his entrée into the nearly half-century effort to found this intellectual and cultural symbol for an emerging nation. 3 “Indispensable in a Civilized Society, as Necessary as Food:” A Consideration of Manuel Payno’s ‘Monumental’ Effort to Found the Biblioteca Nacional de México. Standing watch outside the reading room of the Fondo Reservado, the special collections annexed to the Biblioteca Nacional in Mexico City, are monuments of José María Luis Mora, Valentín Gómez Farías, Antonio Martínez de Castro, and Benito Juárez—government officials and presidents credited with principal roles in the forty-year effort to found Mexico’s National Library, an institution arising fitfully following Mexico’s independence from Spain in 1821.1 The role taken by Manuel Payno—a successful journalist and novelist and former Mexican finance minister—did not lead to one of the four government decrees created by these his contemporaries, yet Payno’s voice and vision offered to both Mexico’s leaders and citizens an image of what their Biblioteca Nacional should be and, largely, became. Glints from Payno’s life reveal his affinity for libraries and that he is, indeed, a worthy subject for the library historian: Payno was exiled from Mexico for his writings on the Mexican American War—thereby personifying intellectual freedom—and frequently published journalism under the pseudonym El Bibliotecario, or The Librarian. To appreciate the parallel and eventually converging paths of the Biblioteca Nacional and Manuel Payno, the histories of Mexico’s libraries and the man should first be considered. And as the clearest explanation of Payno’s role is the often-quoted article he published in May of 1869 describing the transformation of the former Church of San Agustín to the Biblioteca Nacional, an English translation of this piece is appended.2 Payno’s writing provides a glimpse into nineteenth-century Mexico, rendered in prose both ornate and affable, and many of his judgments remain relevant for the contemporary reader. However, Manuel Payno’s 3500 words best demonstrate his passion and his part in founding a library long awaited. 4 The Path from Amoxcalli to the Biblioteca Nacional While the effort to establish the Biblioteca Nacional marks the beginning of library history in modern Mexico, book culture is clearly evident in earlier periods of the nation’s history. Prior to the arrival of Hernán Cortés at Veracruz in 1519, the indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica had for more than a millennium transmitted their culture through codices—early manuscripts written in pictographs on folded paper sheets made of plant fiber or animal hide. However, almost all codices and the amoxcallis, the term for pre-Hispanic libraries in the indigenous language Nahuatl, were destroyed during the Spanish conquest.3 During the three hundred years of Spanish colonialism (1521-1821), book collections were found in New Spain’s Catholic seminaries and convents as well as private libraries scattered throughout the colony. Typically, these ecclesiastical libraries held works of Catholic or church-sanctioned theology, philosophy, and history; the private libraries, while reflecting personal interest, held surviving codices and were rich in bibliographic jewels as Mexico City was the site of the first printing press in the new world (1539). Early libraries of note included the Biblioteca Palafoxiana in Puebla —the preeminent seventeenth-century library—and that of the Real y Pontificia Universidad de México (Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico) in Mexico City. Founded during the colonial period, Mexico’s first public library was the Biblioteca Turriana, named for the priests Luis and Cayetano Torres who founded it in the Catedral de México in Mexico City in 1788. With the exception of the Biblioteca Palafoxiana, early Mexican libraries lacked sufficient space for patrons, and no colonial library met the growing demand for modern works—secular and scientific—printed within Mexico and abroad.4 Education in Colonial Mexico was provided by the Catholic Church to create a native clergy and to spread Spanish and Christian cultures throughout the new world. After Mexico’s Wars of 5 Independence (1810-1821), the nation still struggled with poverty and illiteracy as persons distant from Mexico City in provincial cities, rural towns and Indian pueblos had little access to education or currents of culture offered by museums and libraries. Beginning in 1824, three years after independence, the topic of libraries began to receive attention in a few state legislatures: 1824 in Puebla, 1825 in Oaxaca, 1835 in Toluca and later in Chihuahua and Zacatecas.5 What became clear from these early efforts was the need for a national library--that is a collection located in the nation’s capital, home to both country’s bibliographic history and future, and open to all persons. As early as 1828, a plan for a national library was presented to Mexico’s National Congress; this effort was not realized due to inadequate federal funding and quickly-changing presidential administrations and priorities. Between May 1833 and August 1855, the Mexican presidency changed hands thirty-six times, with the average term being about seven-and-a-half months. This roster included two emperors, numerous military dictators, as well as elected presidents--each caught in a succession of conservative and liberal leadership, and this trend of short-lived presidential administrations endured into the early twentieth century.6 As Mexico vacillated between elected and military leaders and struggled with economic instability, repeated efforts were made to establish a national library. In 1833, President Valentín Gómez Farías appointed a group of leaders to draft laws and regulations for Public Instruction in the Federal District; from this body, headed by José María Luis Mora, came official recommendations that a national public library be established. The library of Mexico City’s Colegio de Todos los Santos was selected to house the books and manuscripts gathered from numerous religious and private libraries as well as books printed domestically and abroad. Manuel Eduardo de Gorostiza (1789-1851), a diplomat and successful Mexican playwright, was appointed director of the Biblioteca Nacional and allotted an annual book and periodical budget 6 of $3,000.∗ Gorostiza also gathered private monetary donations for the Library—some of which came from his own earnings in the theater.7 However political moderates viewed the project as too liberal, and the decree creating the Biblioteca Nacional was annulled by the body who had penned it. More decrees followed in support of the Biblioteca Nacional, some issued by government officials, others by presidents. In 1846, a decree appeared at the request of José María Lafragua (1813-1875), Secretary of Foreign Relations and a future director of the Biblioteca Nacional, calling for a national and public library; again, the undertaking faltered—now due to the expenses of Mexico’s War with the United States and the poorly organized federal treasury. As early as October of 1851, articles began appearing in Mexico City’s newspapers—principally in the liberal publication El Siglo Diez y Nueve—calling for renewed attention to the matter of a national library.8 This coverage included feature articles summarizing Lafragua’s degree of 1846, brief reminders and updates on the project’s status, and even a Spanish translation of a piece from an English-language paper profiling national libraries throughout Europe. Conservative support for a national library was less common but did appear in an editorial in the newspaper El Universal in August of 1854. In the late 1850s, the federal government restricted the power of the Catholic Church through reform laws and a new constitution which secularized much of Mexican society. Accordingly, the Real y Pontificia Universidad de México, founded and run by the Roman Catholic Church, was closed, and the Biblioteca Nacional received the books, monies and property of the suppressed University’s library. Yet as the newly appointed director, José Fernando Ramírez (1804-1871), began preparing the facility and collections, ∗ All $ amounts given in Mexican pesos of the time. 7 conservatives revolted against the Constitution of 1857 and the effort to found the Library was once again abandoned. During Mexico’s Imperial Era—the period spanning 1863-1867 known also as the French Intervention—the Austrian Maximilian reigned as emperor and envisioned an imperial rather than a national library. After first naming José María Benítez (1800-1872) director, Maximilian later appointed Agustín Fischer to the post. In scholarship on the history of the Biblioteca Nacional, Fisher is noted primarily as having received an excessive salary and to have done mostly as Maximilian wished—boxing and transporting the Biblioteca Nacional’s collections to locations outside the University, for instance.9 It was during this period that the exodus began of Mexico’s rich collections of books, manuscripts, maps and codices to Europe and the United States. Maximilian had purchased the notable 7,000-item collection of publisher and bookseller José María Andrade for the imperial library; however, following Maximilian’s execution in 1867 and the chaotic reemergence of the Mexican Republic, Andrade’s collection was shipped to Leipzig, Germany for auction.

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