INDEPENDENT MEXICO IN NEWSPAPERS THE 19TH-CENTURY Guide to the Microfilm Set
Compiled and edited by Adán Benavides and Agnes L. McAlester
NETTIE LEE BENSON LATIN AMERICAN COLLECTION UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS LIBRARIES
2005
INDEPENDENT MEXICO IN NEWSPAPERS THE 19TH-CENTURY Guide to the Microfilm Set
Compiled and edited by
Adán Benavides
and
Agnes L. McAlester
Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection University of Texas Libraries The University of Texas at Austin
2005
© Copyright 2005 by University of Texas Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
First Edition, 2005.
Project supported, in part, by grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PA- 24196-02) and the Latin American Microform Project (LAMP), a collaborative program of the Center for Research Libraries.
Abstract
The University of Texas Libraries’ Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection has preserved on microfilm 192,527 pages from 579 Mexican newspaper titles which date from 1807 to 1900. The project, which ran from October 2002 through March 2005, was supported, in part, by grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PA- 24196-02) and the Latin American Microform Project (LAMP), a collaborative program of the Center for Research Libraries.
In this microfilm set, the number of newspaper titles published within and outside of the Federal District is about equal: 280 (48%) published in the Distrito Federal, 299 (52%) published in Mexican cities from twenty-six states. The majority of pages, however, were published in Mexico City (81%). These newspapers trace the evolution of the modern newspaper format in Mexico through its often turbulent history: from its status as a viceroyalty of the Spanish Crown to its early experiment in a monarchical form of government to its long struggle to determine a federalist system of government, with concomitant religious, social, and economic changes.
Many of the newspaper issues in this set are rarely held in U.S. libraries, and some are uniquely held either by the Benson Collection or one of the eleven other participating libraries. 55% of the newspaper titles (317) and 62% of all the pages in this set came from Benson holdings. Several other libraries contributed an extraordinary number of unique titles as well as numerous supplementary issues: the Library of Congress (81 unique titles), Latin American Library at Tulane University (49), The University of Connecticut, Storrs (46), and the Sterling Library at Yale University (38). Seven other libraries contributed a total of 34 unique titles (see table 1). Well-known, long-running newspapers were omitted from the project if they were already available on archival microfilm through U.S. research institutions.
The arrangement of the newspapers within the microfilm is alphabetical by state and city thereunder (reels 1 to 43), with newspapers published in the Distrito Federal following (reels 44 to 269). Addenda and errata appear in reels 270 to 284. This guide follows that arrangement and also contains an alphabetical list of the titles, which serves as an index to the newspapers. The reel and frame number in the alphabetical list refers to the first issue microfilmed and, if applicable, to the reel of addenda and errata; different newspapers with the same title are listed separately.
The microfilm is available for purchase or through interlibrary loan.
Independent Mexico in Newspapers, the 19th Century, page iii
Contents
Abstract ------iii Illustrations ------vi Tables ------vii Introduction ------ix Newspapers from Mexican States (reels 1-43) ------1
Baja California ------1 Campeche ------1 Chiapas------2 Chihuahua ------6 Coahuila------6 Colima ------7 Durango ------7 Guanajuato ------8 Guerrero------8 Jalisco ------8 México (Estado de)------12 Michoacán ------13 Nayarit ------15 Nuevo León ------15 Oaxaca ------15 Puebla ------16 Querétaro ------18 San Luis Potosí------18 Sinaloa------19 Sonora------19 Tabasco ------20 Tamaulipas ------20 Tlaxcala ------23 Veracruz-Llave------23 Yucatán------27 Zacatecas------30
Newspapers from the Distrito Federal (reels 44-269)------31
Addenda and Errata (reels 270-284) ------77
Newspapers from Mexican States (reels 270-275) ------77 Newspapers from the Distrito Federal (reels 275-284) ------83
Newspaper Titles Arranged Alphabetically ------87
Independent Mexico in Newspapers, the 19th Century, page v
Illustrations
Cover. “La lectura del periódico, según Goode, por Luis G. Campa, 1857.” El grabado en lámina en la Academia de San Carlos durante el siglo XIX. Reimpresión de 24 planchas originales existentes en el Archivo de la Escuela de Artes Plásticas, tiradas a mano por Carlos Alvarado Lang (Mexico City: Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México: Imprenta Universitaria, 1938), plate 5.
Figure 1. The nineteenth century witnessed the transition of Mexico from a Spanish Viceroyalty to an independent country transformed by technology and new thinking. Masthead by I.G. Pesoa of New York, El Ferro-Carril: Revista Política, Mercantil e Industrial (Orizaba, Veracruz-Llave, 25 marzo 1868, p.1; reel 271: frame 89). Original at Homer Babbage Library, University of Connecticut, Storrs. ------viii
Figure 2. Spanish political turmoil was reported in Mexico even as the Hidalgo revolt presaged empire-wide disaffection with the status quo. Efemérides de México sobre el Patriotismo é Ilustración de los Españoles (Mexico City, 4 octubre 1810, p.1; reel 75: frame 464). ------x
Figure 3. Hidalgo’s launch of the Mexican independence movement in 1810 propelled him to become a national hero by mid-century. Garlands around his image carry the names of Mexican political and military heroes. “Gloria Nacional: Hidalgo,” El Loco: Periódico Joco-serio, Semi-político, Semi-Poético, de Variedades y Noticias (Veracruz, Veracruz-Llave, 16 septiembre 1872, fol. p. 2; reel 40: frame 300). ------xii
Figure 4. Announcement of the establishment of a Mexican monarchical system of government with the throne to be offered to Prince Ferdinand Maximilian, Archduke of Austria, and his descendants. La Sociedad: Periódico Político y Literario. (Mexico City, 11-14 junio 1864, p. 1; reel 224: frame 45).------xiv
Figure 5. By the end of the nineteenth century, Mexican newspapers had evolved to the modern format which included advertisements and articles on style. "Damas: Traje de Calle," El Universal: Diario de la Mañana (Mexico City, 12 mayo 1893, p. 4; reel 261: frame 381). ------xv
Figure 6. The defeat of the Texans at the Battle of the Alamo on 6 March 1836 was printed and reprinted in Mexican newspapers shortly after the event. The report appeared on page 2 (not shown) of La Luna (Toluca de Lerdo, Estado de México, 9 abril 1836; reel 16: frame 195). ------xviii
Figure 7. As the nineteenth century advanced, the United States exerted considerable influence in Mexican economic and technological development. La Casera (Mexico City, 15 febrero 1880, p. 1; reel 57: frame 330). Original at Sterling Library, Yale University.------xx
Figure 8. Porfirio Díaz’s political dominance at the end of the nineteenth century allowed
Independent Mexico in Newspapers, the 19th Century, page vi
Mexican economic and political stability. El Dominguero: Semanario Político, Ilustrado, Musical, Literario y de Variedades (Mérida, Yucatán, 6 enero 1884; reel 271: frame 226). ------xxii
Figure 9. “La prensa se divierte” por Santiago Hernández. El Palo de Ciego: Periódico Poco Político, de Costumbres, Literatura, Variedades y Avisos, con Caricaturas (Mexico City, 1 abril 1862, after p.2; reel 187: frame 5).------xxiv
Figure 10. Masthead, La Sombra: Periódico Joco-serio, Ultra-liberal y Reformista (Mexico City, 21 marzo 1865, p.1; reel 239: frame 47). ------xxvi
Figure 11. El Zurriago underwent three publication periods (1839-40, 1843-44, 1851), but always under the same editor, José Justo Gómez de la Cortina. It was a liberal publication which verbally lashed unethical politicians while establishing itself as a proponent of Mexican literary criticism. El Zurriago: Periódico Científico, Literario e Industrial (Mexico City, 5 octubre 1839, p.1; reel 269: frame 436). ------xxvii
Figure 12. Appearing at Halloween, calaveras are satirical epitaphs for well-known persons. "Panteón Literario," El Combate: Periódico Político Liberal (Mexico City, 28 octubre 1888, p. 1; reel 275: frame 335). Original at Latin American Library, Tulane University. ------86
Tables
Table 1. Independent Mexico in Newspapers, titles and pages borrowed from participating libraries. ------xvi
Table 2. Independent Mexico in Newspapers, newspaper titles by start date. ------xxiii
Independent Mexico in Newspapers, the 19th Century, page vii
Figure 1. The 19th Century witnessed the transition of Mexico from a Spanish Viceroyalty to an independent country transformed by technology and new thinking. Masthead by I.G. Pesoa of New York, El Ferro-Carril: Revista Política, Mercantil e Industrial (Orizaba, Veracruz-Llave, 25 marzo 1868, p.1; reel 271: frame 89). Original at Homer Babbage Library, University of Connecticut, Storrs.
Independent Mexico in Newspapers, the 19th Century, page viii
Introduction
The Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection
The Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection is a research library for area studies whose mission is to acquire and provide access to materials on Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and the Hispanic presence in the United States. The Collection serves the students and faculty of the University of Texas at Austin as well as the national and international research community. Named in honor of Nettie Lee Benson, its director from 1942 to 1975, the Collection contains over 900,000 books, periodicals and pamphlets, and numerous other items in various formats: manuscripts, maps, microforms, broadsides, photographs, sound recordings, drawings, video tapes and cassettes, slides, transparencies, posters, memorabilia, and electronic media. See the Benson Collection web site: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/benson/ for additional information.
The Benson Latin American Collection is particularly rich in out-of-the-ordinary monographs and serials—newspapers among them—issued in small print runs, many difficult to acquire when first published and impossible to acquire today. Such a collection is of particular importance to the humanities and is widely consulted in a range of disciplines. Primary research materials in extensive archival collections enlarge the research possibilities offered by the printed collection.
The Benson Collection has benefited in the recent past from numerous federal grants to preserve, acquire, and catalog its collections, as well as convert its catalog records to machine-readable form. The catalog is now widely available through the World Wide Web. Moreover, microfilmed material that resulted from some of these initiatives is now readily available in U.S. research centers and from the Benson Collection through interlibrary loan service.
Historical Significance of Mexican Newspapers, the 19th Century
The University of Texas Libraries has regularly collected Mexican newspapers since the Mexican Revolution that ended in 1917. The purchase of the formidable Genaro García Collection in 1920 brought to the University scores of what were already then, and are especially now, very rare nineteenth-century newspapers. In fact, the García newspapers are at the heart of this microfilm set. Several former students and faculty members of the University have contributed newspapers as well. Jefferson R. and Lota May Spell were particularly effective in acquiring and giving rare, early nineteenth-century periodicals to the Collection. Other collections acquired by the Benson Collection also included nineteenth-century newspapers.
Independent Mexico in Newspapers, the 19th Century, page ix
Introduction
Figure 2. Spanish political turmoil was reported in Mexico even as the Hidalgo revolt presaged empire-wide disaffection with the status quo. Efemérides de México sobre el Patriotismo é Ilustración de los Españoles (Mexico City, 4 octubre 1810, p.1; reel 75: frame 464). Independent Mexico in Newspapers, the 19th Century, page x Introduction In this microfilm project, the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection has preserved 192,527 pages from 579 Mexican newspaper titles which date from 1807 to 1900. In this set, the number of newspaper titles published within and outside of the Federal District is about equal: 280 (48%) published in the Distrito Federal, 299 (52%) published in Mexican cities from twenty-six states, including one title printed in Brownsville, Texas, for a publisher across the Rio Grande in Matamoros, Tamaulipas. The majority of pages, however, were published in Mexico City (81%). Although holdings of many of these newspapers exist in very short runs, the titles are often unique—perhaps the only extant record of a newspaper’s short-lived existence. These newspapers trace the evolution of the modern newspaper format in Mexico through its often turbulent history: from its status as a viceroyalty of the Spanish Crown to its early experiment in a monarchical form of government to its long struggle to determine a federalist system of government, with concomitant religious, social, and economic changes.
The nineteenth century was a turbulent transition in the Mexican nation’s struggle to define itself. During that time Mexico not only suffered attack from without, but the Mexican nation struggled to balance many competing interests: federalism versus centralism, monarchists versus republicans, landed interests versus Indian community rights, wealthy elites versus the peasantry, church versus state, and military leadership versus democratically inspired nationalists. In a recent work, historian Mark Wasserman writes that, “The three great watersheds of modern Mexican history were Independence (1821), the Reform (1855-60), and the Revolution (1910).” He notes the prevalence of war throughout most of the nineteenth century. Mexico faced internal differences and confronted external political and economic aggression with bloodshed, internal dissatisfaction, economic turmoil, and humiliation.