The Latin American mss. Colombia, 1558-1890, contain material relating to a wide range of Colombian history. Manuscripts from the colonial period deal with the functioning of the Catholic Church, regulation of the clergy, appointment of government officials, and colonial administration. A large body of royal cedulas and orders dates from the colonial era.

The war of independence and, concomitant with it, the Republic of Gran Colombia are the topics of many of the documents. Present are several manuscripts authored by Simon Bolivar, correspondence, speeches, and military records. Concerning Bolivar is an interesting letter from Luis Peru de Lacroix to Manuela Saenz, written the day before Bolivar's death. Many other leaders of the independence movement are represented in the collection. Letters and documents deal with the administration and many problems of the short-lived Republic of Gran Colombia, consisting of modern Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador. A series of letters also concern the establishment of the Museo Nacional in the 1820's. Registers, service records, a paymaster's book, the Diarios de las operaciones of the Estado Mayor General for March to September of 1816, reports of action, and correspondence give information about the state of the Spanish army at this time.

The national period of Colombia's history is represented largely by correspondence of some of the presidents of Colombia, the Papers relating to the Compagnie Franco-Colombienne pour l'exploitation des mines de fer de Cundinamarca et Boyaca, and an 1853 plan for the economic development of Colombia.

Among the bound volumes in the collection are a copy of Pedro de Aguado's sixteenth century Historia de Santa Marta y Nuevo Reyno de Granada, published in 1916; Letters to Antonio Narvaez y La Torre by Antonio Amar y Borbon, et al., dating from January 29, 1807, to March 6, 1822; a copy of Juan Rivero's Historia de las misiones de los llanos de Casanare y los Rios Orinoco y Meta, written in 1728 and published in 1883 (BX2853 .C7 R62); eighteenth and nineteenth century copies of the 1624-1625 Noticias historiales de las conquistas de Tierra firme en el nuevo reyno de Granada, Yndias occidentales ... (segunda y tercera partes) of Pedro Simon with the Phillipps numbers 11699- 11702, first published in 1882 (E123 .S586); Genealogias de Don Joseph Flores de Acuna y Sus Hermanos, covering the years 1573- 1656; the Constituciones Synodales del Obispado de Cartagena de Indias by Jose Eliodoro Dias de la Madrid y Unda written May 26, 1782, with corrections by the king's confessor, having the Phillipps number 11804; and Correspondencia del Virrey Mendinueta by Anastasio Zejudo, et al., from July 20, 1797, to August 21, 1803. An interesting volume is Los Comuneros; Documentos originales. This contains documents dating from January 4, 1759, to August 26, 1786, that concern the insurrection of the Comuneros in 1781.

Correspondents in the collection are Jose de Acevedo y Gomes; Francisco de Paula Aguilar; Juan de Dios Aranzazu; Melchor de Aymerich; Jose Antonio Balcazar Sanchez; Antonio Baraya; Andres Bello; Simon Bolivar; Pedro Briceno Mendez; Antonio Caballero y Gongora; Francisco Jose de Caldas y Tenorio; Sebasta de la Calzada; Carlos IV, king of Spain; Miguel Antonio Caro; Thomas Greaves Cary; Pedro Ceballos Cortes y Calderon; Gualterio D. Chitty; Jose Maria Cordoba; Mariano Cucalon; Miguel Delgado; Theodore Dwight, Jr.; Salvador Fernandez de Cordoba; Miguel Crisanto Fernandez de Cordoba y Mesa; Antonio Jose Garcia de la Guardia; Pedro Alcantara Herran; Manuel Antonio Jaramillo; Valentin Jaramillo; Salvador Jimenez de Enciso y Cobos Padilla; Felipe Larrazabal; Jose Hilario Lopez; Francisco Montalvo y Ambuladi Arriola y Casabante Valdespino; Toribio de Montes; Mariano Montilla; Tomas Cipriano Mosquera; Pascuala Munoz de Cordoba; Antonio Narino; Antonio Obando; Jose Maria Obando; Daniel Florencio O'Leary; Jose Joaquin de Olmedo y Maruri; Alejandro Osorio Uribe; Joaquin Paris; Luis Peru de Lacroix; Fernando de Prado y Plaza; Jose Manuel Restrepo; Jose de Ricaurte; Simon Rodriguez; Juan Jose Samano y Urribarri de Rebollar y Mazorra; Francisco de Paula Santander; Carlos Soublette; Antonio Jose de Sucre; Camilo Torres; Pedro Leon Torres; William Turner; Luis Urdaneta; Mariano Urrutia; Jose Maria Vezga; Guillermo White; and Francisco Antonio Zea.

Note on Indexing Term - "Law": There is a large quantity of legal material pertaining to Latin America in these collections. Royal and viceregal decrees, both de oficio and de parte, are especially numerous.

Note on Indexing Term - "Religion": A large quantity of this material relates to religious matters.

Note on Indexing Term - "West (U.S.)" and "Americana": There are items pertaining to early settlements and colonial government in Texas, California and New Mexico, and information on Texas independence.