The Fernández Nodal mss., 16th cent.-1883, consists of the papers of José Fernández Nodal, a Peruvian scholar born in 1822. Among the papers are notes for his Elementos de Gramática Quichua, first published in Cuzco, Peru, in 1860; notes and early drafts for his book Los Yncas del Imperio Tahuantinsuyo, published in 1874. The collection contains notes and drafts of Kechua and Aymara dictionaries, an Aymará grammar, a history of the independence of Peru and the insurrection of Túpac-Amaru, a study of music, and a study of minerals. Present are studies of verse and many pieces of poetry, some of which Fernández Nodal authored but the majority of which are copies of the writings of other Latin American and Spanish poets. There is a small amount of correspondence, chiefly about his publications and other scholarly activities, and a few personal documents such as baptismal certificate, army discharge papers, and passports. In the correspondence there are also copies of a sixteenth-century Francisco de Toledo letter and an 1824 letter of Simón Bolívar.

Correspondents include Simón Bolívar; Francisco Ibañez; Clorinda Matto de Turner; Gabriel Mitterstiller; Johann Schotter; Francisco de Toledo; Trübner & Co., London (publishers); Juan Gualberto Valdivia; and François Xavier Wurth-Paquet.

Note on Indexing Term - "Science": Of interest are miscellaneous notes and essays concerning the properties of minerals and other scientific subjects written by Fernandez Nodal.