Detail of Alice Le Plongeon with rifle, 1873 [Alice Le Plongeon and workers at Chichén Itzá standing between the east facade of Las Monejas Annex and La Iglesia]. By Augustus Le Plongeon (1826-1908), from Views of Maya ruins in the Yucatan. Collodion on paper. Getty Research Institute, 96.R.137
This subsection consists of collections that contain within them various materials, including maps, photographs, manuscripts, and personal papers. Aside from the Edmund Lincoln Papers, the collections are browsable through their respective finding aids.
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Augustus and Alice Dixon Le Plongeon papers, 1763-1937, bulk 1860-1910.
The collection documents the archaeological excavations, fieldwork, research, and writings of Augustus and Alice Dixon Le Plongeon, the first people to excavate and photograph the Maya sites of Chichén Itzá and Uxmal systematically. The couple's pioneering work in documenting Maya sites and inscriptions with photography, which in many cases recorded sites and objects that have subsequently been damaged or lost, was overshadowed in their own lifetimes by their theories of Maya cultural diffusion and, in particular, by their insistence that the Maya founded ancient Egypt. The Le Plongeons' work and evidence of their wide-ranging interests is found in unpublished manuscripts, diaries, correspondence, drawings, plans, and photographs. The collection also contains the papers of Maude and Henry Field Blackwell, who inherited the literary estate of the Le Plongeons.
Collection of Mexican religious engravings, 1700-1830.
This collection of Mexican religious engravings contains 49 loose prints concerning the interpretation of religious subjects and their devotion. Printers include Jose Elogio Morales, José de Nava, José Benito Ortuño, Francisco Antonio Rubio, Tomás de Suría, and Manuel Galicia de Villavicencio.
Edmund Lincoln miscellaneous papers relating to the excavation of Maya ruins, circa 1880-1900.
The collection is divided into five boxes and chronicles young Edmund Lincoln's experiences during the Peabody Museum's second archaeological expedition to Copan, Guatemala. Manuscript materials include Lincoln's travel diary, three letters to his cousin Hannah Lincoln, two research manuscripts, and a typescript. There are three photography albums (containing 25, 95, and 122 photographs) and 32 loose photographs.
The collection includes newspapers, chapbooks, half sheet broadsides and full sheet broadsides, all of which are illustrated with Posada's prints. Much of the material is political, offering a visual chronicle of the last years of Porfiro Díaz's presidency, the rise of Madero and the adventures of Zapata. A significant amount, however, illustrates popular fare such as horoscopes, recipes, advice to the lovelorn, homeopathic cures, and descriptions of miracles or natural disasters. There is one chapbook series for children about Mexican history; another contains plays for children. A number of the broadsides are illustrated songs, often by G. Suarez, Posada's frequent collaborator at Antonio Vanegas Arroyo's press. Thirty-three broadsides feature Posada's most famous character, the Calaveras, and fifteen feature Don Chepito Marihuano. Newspapers include Gaceta Callejara and La Patria Ilustrada. The material dates from the year Posada moved to Mexico City until ten years after his death, during which time the prints were reissued in various contexts. There are two sets of prints done much later, as commemorative collections, one of which was published in 1943.
Tonatiuh and Electra Gutiérrez collection of maps and images of the Americas.
The Tonatiúh and Electra Gutiérrez collection of maps and images of the Americas includes more than 350 historic maps of the Americas, with an emphasis on Mexico and Central America. The collection was assembled by Tonatiúh Gutiérrez and Electra López Mompradé de Gutiérrez who shared a lifelong interest in researching and promoting popular culture, folklore, iconography, history, and cartography of Mexico and the Americas. The collection also includes images of life, fauna, landscapes, historical events, cities, and portrait prints of political leaders.
The Gutiérrez’s also amassed an impressive collection of rare books relevant to the study of the early history of the Americas. Though some books in the Gutiérrez Collection are duplicate copies, alternate editions, or translations of other books found in the GRI Library’s General and Special Collections, many of the historical accounts and chronicles, biographies, and natural and political histories are the library’s sole copy. To browse the entire collection of books, follow the hyperlink Getty Library Catalog - Gutiérrez Collection, and select Books under Resource Type. Alternatively, search ‘Gutiérrez’ in this research guide to browse titles held in Special Collections.
Alice Le Plongeon with rifle, 1873 [Alice Le Plongeon and workers at Chichén Itzá standing between the east facade of Las Monejas Annex and La Iglesia]. By Augustus Le Plongeon (1826-1908), from Views of Maya ruins in the Yucatan. Collodion on paper. Getty Research Institute, 96.R.137