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How to find Online Resources regarding Codices and Colonial Latin American Documents.

List of databases related to researching codices and colonial Latin American documents.

How to find Online Resources regarding Codices and Colonial Latin American Documents.

The following resource list of databases for the study of codices and Latin American colonial documents was compiled by Claudia Brittenham, co-instructor for the workshop for New Spain at the Newberry: Demystifying Colonial Documents from the Ayer Collection, offered in 2018 and 2022 8 at the Newberry Library in Chicago, IL. 

Synopsis: The Edward E. Ayer Collection of rare books and manuscripts contained 4,000 rare colonial documents from New Spain when it was given to the Newberry Library in 1911. The rich materials represented the early contacts between American Indians and Europeans, including sermons and dictionaries in indigenous languages handwritten by priests and pictorial court documents created by indigenous artists that contested land holdings in the Valley of Mexico. This one-day workshop will use the Ayer Collection and its history to discuss the historical migration of books in the global market. The workshop will also allow graduate students an opportunity to consult rare documents in the collection by learning how to read, contextualize, and interpret them.

Resources regarding Codices and Colonial Latin American Documents:

Newberry Library

Newberry Library online catalog

Newberry Library Online Resources:

The Aztecs and the Making of Colonial Mexico, an online exhibition

Writing the Voices of the Americas, an online exhibition of print history

Popol Vuh online

Allen Christenson’s literal and poetic translation of the Popol Vuh can be downloaded

World Digital Library

Includes the Florentine Codex, The Matrícula de Tributos, the Mapa Siguenza, the Uppsala Map, several Relaciones Geográficas, the Codex Columbino, the Boban Calendar Wheel, the Codex Azcatitlan, the Codex Ixtlilxochitl, the Codex Mexicanus, the Tonalamatl Aubin, the Matrícula de Huehotzingo, the Codex Chavero of Huehotzingo, the Codex Osuna (here called the Painting of the Governor, Mayors, and Rulers of Mexico) and other documents. Click here to find these documents from Mexico.

INAH Codex Resources

Includes the Codex Cruz Badiano, the Tira de la Peregrinación/Codex Boturini, the Matrícula de Tributos, the Codex Mendoza, and the Tonalamatl Aubin, along with many other documents. (INAH is the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico)

Check your app provider for the Codex Mendoza app in English and Spanish, and the And the Tira de la Peregrinación app. 

Biblioteca Digital Mexicana

 Includes the Primeros Memoriales,  Relaciones Geográficas maps, and many other useful documents

Primeros Libros de las Américas

Of the approximately 220 titles known to have been printed in Mexico in the 16th century, 136 titles are known to have survived to the present day. This website compiles all known copies of these texts.

Biblioteca Nacional de España, Biblioteca Digital Hispánica:

Real Academia de la Historia, Biblioteca Digital-Codex Duran-     

 Vatican Library

  Codex Borgia

  Codex Vaticanus A

  Codex Vaticanus B

British Museum

  Codex Zouche-Nuttall

  Codex Sanchez Solis/Egerton

  Codex Kingsborough

University of Texas Benson Library

  Collection of Relaciones Geográficas documents

Bibliotheque Nationale de France

  Codex Xolotl

  Codex Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxochitl

     Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4-10

  Mapa de Qinatzin

    Part 1-2, Part 3 

  Mexicain 18-19: Tonalamatl

Universidad Francisco Marroquín

  Lienzo de Quauhquechollolan

Compilation sites:

  William Ringle’s Digital Resources for the Study of Prehispanic Mexico

    Codex Boturini interactive

    Maya resources

     Amoxcalli

       Facsimiles of many codices, maps, and other pictorial documents

       Manuscripts

       Dictionary 

Foundation for Ancient Mesoamerican Studies (FAMSI)

  Facsimiles of Prehispanic codices

  Bibliografia Mesoamericana 

The Mapas Project, University of Oregon

A compilation of maps from Mexico and Guatemala, including several Relación Geográfica maps but many more as well.

Fordham Codices

Flippable versions of the Codex Aubin, Codex Boturini/Tira de la Peregrinación, Codex Mendoza, Codex Telleriano-Remensis, Codex Azcatitlan, and Tira de Tepechpan, along with ongoing transcription and translation projectsResources on Mesoamerican writing systems, the Codex Nutall, the Matricula de Tributos, the Lienzo de Tlaxcala, and other documents.

Mesoweb

This website is oriented towards the Classic Maya, and contains a number of useful resources