MEMORY OF THE WORLD REGISTER
NOMINATION FORM
Mexico - Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies and doctrinal treatises of Friar Bartolomé de las Casas
 
PART A - ESSENTIAL INFORMATION
1. Identity and Location
2. Legal Information
3. Identification
4. Management plan
5. Assessment against the Selection Criteria
6. Consultation
7. Nominator

PART B - SUBSIDIARY INFORMATION
8. Assessment of Risk
9. Preservation Assessment

PART A - ESSENTIAL INFORMATION

1. Identity and Location

1.1 Name of documentary heritage
Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias y tratados doctrinales de fray Bartolomé de las Casas (Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies and doctrinal treatises of Friar Bartolomé de las Casas)
1.2 Country
Mexico
1.3 State, province or region
Mexico City
1.4 Address
Prolongación Paseo de la Reforma 880, Lomas de Santa Fe, Postal Code 01210
1.5 Name of organization or institution (if appropriate)
Universidad Iberoamericana, Academic Information Centre

2. Legal Information

2.1 Owner (Name and contact details)
Universidad Iberoamericana
2.2 Custodian (name and contact details)
Universidad Iberoamericana, Academic Information Centre, Dept. of Historical Collections
2.3 Legal Status
Civil Association
(a) Category of Ownership
Private
(b) Details of legal and administrative provisions for the preservation of the documentary heritage
Donation agreement with the Manuel Arango Foundation
(c) Accessibility
Both the original and reproduction material may be consulted once minimal entry requirements have been satisfied.
(d) Copyright Status
Public domain
2.4 Responsible administration
Centro de Información Académica (Academic Information Centre), Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico

3 Identification

3.1 Description and inventory
F1411 C388.1522
Author: Casas, Bartolomé de las, 1474-1566
Title: Herein is a dispute or controversy between the bishop Friar Bartolomé de las Casas or Casaus, bishop of the royal city of Chiapa, which is in the Indies and part of New Spain, and Dr. Gines de Sepúlveda, chronicler of Our Lord the Emperor, where the doctor maintains that the conquest of the Indies from the Indians was a legitimate enterprise, whereas the bishop maintains and defends the position that it could have been nothing but tyrannical, unjust and iniquitous (...)
Printer: Seville: Sebastián Trugillo's workshop, 1552
Physical description: (62)pp: engraving: 21 cm.
Notes: Bound in a hard cover of a later period, covered with parchment and joined with leather. Black and red lettering on the cover.
Notes: machine-made cotton pulp paper.
Notes: engravings in black and red ink.
Notes: Well preserved: some oxidation stains and some defects on the first pages. The leather binding of the book is in a fragile condition.
F411 C387.1552
Author: Casas, Bartolomé de las, 1484-1566
Title: Some of the proposals for the reform of the Indies put forward by Friar Bartolomé de las Casas, bishop of the royal city of Chiapa, at the command of the emperor our king, (before) His Majesty, prelates, lawyers and other worthies in Valladolid in the year fifteen hundred and forty-two, (...)
Printer: Seville: Croberger 1552
Physical description: (53)pp: engraving: 21 cm.
Notes: Bound in a hard cover of a later period, covered with parchment and joined with leather. Black and red lettering on the cover.
Notes: machine-made cotton pulp paper.
Notes: engravings in black and red ink.
Notes: Well preserved: some oxidation stains.
F1411 C386.1552
Author: Casas, Bartolomé de las, 1474-1566
Title: Short account of the destruction of the Indies written by the bishop Friar Bartolomé de las Casas or Casaus of the Dominican Order.
Printer: Seville: (anon), 1552
Physical description: (91)pp: engraving: 21 cm.
Notes: Bound in a hard cover of a later period, covered with parchment and joined with leather. Black and red lettering on the cover.
Notes: machine-made cotton pulp paper.
Notes: engravings in black and red ink.
Notes: Well preserved: some oxidation stains.
F1411 C385.1552
Author: Casas, Bartolomé de las, 1474-1566
Title: Herein are thirty highly legal propositions which very briefly and succinctly deal with many aspects of the rights which the church and the Christian princes have or may have over infidels of any kind: basically the true and strongest basis for these rights is the supreme and universal title and dominion which the monarchs of Castile and Leon have in the area known as the West (Indies) / Bartholomé de las Casas.
Printer: Seville: Sebastian Trugillo's workshop, 1552
Physical description: (20)pp: engraving: 21 cm.
Notes: Bound in a hard cover of a later period, covered with parchment and joined with leather. Black and red lettering on the cover.
Notes: machine-made cotton pulp paper.
Notes: engravings in black and red ink.
Notes: Well preserved: oxidation stains on some pages.
F1411 C384.1552
Author: Casas, Bartolomé de las, 1474-1566
Title: The following is part of a letter and an account written by a certain man: it deals with the things which the captain of this area did and permitted to be done. This letter and account were sent to be bound with other things and the binder forgot or lost a page or some of the pages which contained frightful things. All this was given to me by one of those who did them and I kept it and the beginning and the end are missing (...)/ Friar Bartholomé de las Casas
Printer: (Seville: Sebastian Trugillo, 1552)
Physical description: (8)pp: 21 cm.
Notes: Bound in a hard cover of a later period, covered with parchment and joined with leather. Black and red lettering on the cover.
Notes: machine-made cotton pulp paper.
Notes: engravings in black and red ink.
Notes: Well preserved: some oxidation stains.
F1411 C38.1552
Author: Casas, Bartholomé de las, 1474-1566
Title: Treatise verifying the sovereign empire and universal primacy of the monarchs of Castile and Leon over the Indies / written by the bishop Friar Bartholomé de las Casas or Casaus of the Dominican Order.
Printer: Seville: Sebastian Trugillo's workshop, 1552)
Physical description: (80)pp: engraving; 21 cm.
Note : Bound in a hard cover of a later period, covered with parchment and joined with leather. Black and red lettering on the cover.
Notes: machine-made cotton pulp paper.
Notes: engravings in black and red ink.
Notes: Well preserved: some oxidation stains on the pages.
F1411 C383.1552
Author: Casas, Bartolomé de las, 1474-1566
Title: This is a treatise which the bishop of the royal city of Chiapa, Friar Bartholomé de las Casas or Casaus, wrote for the Royal Council of the Indies on the subject of the Indians who have been enslaved there. The many reasons and legal authorities contained therein may help readers to determine a variety of diverse doubtful matters regarding restitution and other matters relating to how the poor are dealt with at the present time ...
Printer: [Seville: Sebastian Trugillo's workshop, 1552)
Physical description: 36pp: 21 cm.
Notes: Bound in a hard cover of a later period, covered with parchment and joined with leather. Black and red lettering on the cover.
Notes: machine-made cotton pulp paper.
Notes: engravings in black and red ink.
Notes: Well preserved: some oxidation stains on some pages
F1411 C382.1552
Author: Casas, Bartolomé de las, 1474-1566
Title: Herein are some warnings and rules for confessors who may hear the confession of Spaniards who are or have been in charge of Indians in the overseas Indies / drafted by the bishop of Chiapa, Friar Bartholomé de las Casas or Casaus of the Dominican Order.
Printer: Seville: Sebastian Trugillo's workshop, 1552
Physical description: (32)pp: 21 cm.
Notes: Bound in a hard cover of a later period, covered with parchment and joined with leather. Black and red lettering on the cover.
Notes: machine-made cotton pulp paper.
Notes: engravings in black and red ink.
Notes: Well preserved: some oxidation stains on the pages.
3.2 Bibliographic/Registration details
3.3 Visual documentation
Photographs are attached:

3.4 History
The Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias (Short account of the destruction of the Indies) and other doctrinal treatises written by Friar Bartolomé de las Casas, and published in Seville between January 1552 and January 1553, were the only works by this author published during his lifetime. The reason for their publication was to inform a wider public, not just the authorities of the Spanish Crown, of the “atrocities” being committed by the conquistadors and settlers in America. Bartolomé de las Casas fought for justice and respect for the indigenous peoples during the conquest and colonization of America. From his arrival in the new lands in 1502 and later in New Spain in 1531, Friar Bartolomé de las Casas (1474-1566) dedicated his life to the struggle of defending the Indians. When the Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias and other treatises were published, Friar Bartolomé de las Casas' ideas reached a wider public and their permanence was thus ensured. In the Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias he tells of the wars of conquest of the Spaniards in America and lists, province by province, the bloody acts carried out by the conquistadors in America. When the ideas of Friar Bartolomé de las Casas were printed, they brought the friar harsh criticism from his contemporaries and he was called a heretic, scandalous and anti-Spanish. The Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias and the other doctrinal treatises were attacked in America as soon as they appeared. One of his ideas was that any person holding Indians captive should be excommunicated. The ideas of Friar Bartolomé de las Casas have been tremendously influential in the history of Latin America. In his treatises, he shows an understanding and willingness to defend other people with different cultures and religions and their right to coexist on equal terms. Las Casas held on to his convictions and took the trouble to broadcast them. He was intelligent and altruistic, and used every means at his disposal to convince his contemporaries of the truth of his ideas. He is regarded as the first American anthropologist.
3.5 Bibliography
Facsimile editions produced in London in 1812 and 1821. A number of reprintings and translations into several languages, such as French, Italian, Dutch, etc., after the first edition.
Casas, Bartolomé de las. Tratados. Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1966
3.6 Names, qualification and contact details of independent persons or organizations with expert knowledge about the values and provenance of the documentary heritage
Biblioteca Hispano-americana 1493-1810. Volume One. Amsterdam: N. Israel, 1968
Palau y Dulcet, Antonio. Manual del librero hispanoamericano. Bibliografía general española e hispanoamericano desde la invención de la imprenta hasta nuestros días con el valor comercial de los impresos. Barcelona: Antonio Palau, 1950

4 Management Plan

5. Assessment Against the Selection Criteria

5.1 Assessment of the documentary heritage against each criterion described in Annex 2
Influence
Friar Bartolomé de las Casas' endeavours on behalf of the human rights of the American Indian and his attempts to demonstrate the rationality of his arguments changed the view of America held in Europe. The principle that different human groups with racial, religious and cultural differences have equal rights of co-existence is increasingly widely accepted in the modern world.
Time
Document published in 1552
Place
America
Subject/Theme

Form and Style
First edition, published on a cyclostyle and not a printing-press as such. Limited edition. Few known copies extant. Printed on paper.
Social Value
It reveals a different view of America and its population in the sixteenth century. It declares all wars of conquest and the subsequent subjugation to be unjust.
5.2 Contextual Assessment including an assessment of a series of documents, the importance of a series of documents in a particular setting, and the assessment against other documentary heritage.
Few printed testimonies of the period reflecting the thoughts of Friar Bartolomé de las Casas are preserved, as his works were attacked and the edition was limited.
5.3 Evaluation of Authenticity
It shows the characteristics described in the books and catalogues specializing in Hispanic-American editions:
Biblioteca Hispano-americana 1493-1810. Volume One. Amsterdam: N. Israel, 1968.
Palau y Dulcet, Antonio Manual del librero hispanoamericano. Bibliografía general española e hispanoamericana desde la invención de la imprenta hasta nuestos días con el valor comercial de los impresos. Barcelona: Antonio Palau, 1950.

6. Consultation

6.1 Details of consultation about the nomination with the:
(a) Owner
(b) Custodian
(c) Relevant regional or National memory of the World Committee (if appropriate)

7. Nominator

7.1 Name
Pilar Verdejo París (Engineer)
7.2 Relationship to the Documentary Heritage
Director of the Academic Information Centre at the Universidad Iberoamericana.
7.3 Contact Person
Mtro. Fernando Alvarez Ortega
7.4 Contact Details
Coordinator of Technical Services.

PART B SUBSIDIARY INFORMATION

8. Assessment of Risk

The political climate in Mexico is stable. Adequate temperature and humidity control devices are in place as well as a fire extinguishing system. The documents are stored on metal shelving. The originals are consulted only under exceptional circumstances.

9. Preservation Assessment

9.1 Present Physical State
Good physical condition.
History of Preservation
The paper medium is fragile, owing mainly to the passage of time and to the fact that the documents were kept in damp places. Damp and oxidation stains are to be seen on some pages.
Current Preservation Policy in relation to proposed nominated documentary heritage
The area is fumigated frequently and temperature and humidity are controlled.
Person or organization responsible for preservation
Area de Acervos Históricos (Dept. of Historical Collections) at the Academic Information Centre