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A Guide to Latin American Special Collections at the GRI

An introduction to the research materials and collections at the Getty Research Institute related to the art and cultural histories of Latin America from the colonial period to the present-day.

Monographs and Essays

This subsection consists of general history books and other essays on subjects ranging from land surveys to treatises on the treatment of Indigenous people under colonial rule. Materials are listed in alphabetical order.
For materials related to the history of religious institutions, click here.

To return to the section overview, click here.

Comentarios reales de los incas. [1633]

  • Related to: Peru
  • Relevant Contributor: Inca Garcilaso de la Vega
  • English translation published in 1688 in the Gutiérrez Collection of Books
  • Spanish edition published in 1723
  • French translation published in 1737 in Gutiérrez Collection of Books

Discurso histórico-juridico del origen, fundación, reedificación, derechos, y exenciones del Hospital de San Lazaro de Lima / escribiolo el señor doctor don Pedro Joseph Bravo de Lagunas y Castilla ... ; lo da a luz don Lorenzo de Aparicio y Leon [1761]

  • Related to: Peru
  • Relevant Contributor: Pedro José Bravo de Lagunas y Castilla

Extracto de los autos de diligencias, y reconocimientos de los ríos, lagunas, vertientes, y desagües de la capital México y su valle: […] / todo por disposición de Juan Francisco de Huemez y Horcasitas ... ; lo escribió de su mandato el licdo. D. Joseph Francisco de Cuevas Aguirre y Espinosa [1748]

  • Related to: Mexico 
  • Relevant Contributor: José Francisco de Cuevas Aguirre y Espinosa

Histoire des pyramides de Quito: élevées par les académiciens envoyés sous l'Equateur par ordre du roi. [1751]

  • Related to: Ecuador
  • Relevant Contributor: Charles Marie de La Condamine

Historie der boecaniers, of vrybuyters van America : van haar eerste beginzelen tot deze tegenwoordige tyd toe : met figuuren [1700]

  • Related to: The Caribbean, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, Venezuela
  • Relevant Contributor: Alexandre Olivier Exquemelin
  • llustrations: Landscapes and views, People
  • Part of the Gutiérrez Collection of Books

The history of America / by William Robertson, D.D [1783]

  • Related to: Argentina, California, the Caribbean, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Florida, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Peru
  • Relevant Contributors: Thomas Kitchin, William Robertson
  • Part of the Gutiérrez Collection of Books 

Idea de una nueva historia general de la América septentrional: fundada sobre material copioso de figuras, symbolos, caractères, y jeroglificos, cantares, y manuscritos de autores indios, últimamente descubiertos / dedicala al rey ... el caballero Lorenzo Boturini Benaduci [1746]

  • Related to: Mexico
  • Relevant Contributor: Lorenzo Boturini Benaduci
  • Part of the Gutiérrez Collection of Books

Il supplice schiauo indiano / di monsig. reverendiss. d. Bartolomeo dalle Case, ò Casaus, siuigliano, dell'Ordine de' predicatori, & vescouo di Chiapa, città regale dell'Indie. Conforme al suo vero originale spagnuolo già stampato in Siuiglia. ; Tradotto in italiano per opera di Marco Ginammi. [1636]

  • Related to: The Caribbean, Cuba, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico
  • Relevant Contributors: Bartolomé de las Casas, Marco Ginammi

La libertà pretesa dal supplice schiauo indiano / di monsignor reverendiss. d. Bartolomeo dalle Case, ò Casaus, siuigliano, dell'Ordine de' predicatori, & vescouo di Chiapa, città regale dell'Indie. Conforme al suo vero originale spagnuolo già stampato in Siuiglia. ; Tradotto in italiano per opera di Marco Ginammi. [1640]

  • Related to: The Caribbean, Cuba, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico
  • Relevant Contributors: Bartolomé de las Casas, Marco Ginammi    

Modern history, or, The present state of all nations : describing their respective situations, persons, habits, buildings, manners, laws and customs, plants, animals and minerals : being the most complete and correct system of geography and modern history extant in any language / by Mr. Salmon ; illustrated with cuts and maps accurately drawn according to the geographical part of this work, by Herman Moll. [1739]

  • Related to: Argentina, The Bahamas, Barbados, Brazil, the Caribbean, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Florida, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Venezuela
  • Relevant Contributors: Herman Moll, Thomas Salmon
  • Illustrations: Allegorical figures and iconography, maps, people
  • Part of the Gutiérrez Collection of Books

Mœurs des sauvages ameriquains, comparées aux mœurs des premiers temps / par le P. Lafitau; ouvrage enrichi de figures en taille-douce. [1724]

  • Related to: Brazil, the Caribbean, Peru
  • Relevant Contributors: Jean-Baptiste Scotin, Joseph-François Lafitau
  • Sections Relevant to Latin America: pl. III, VII, XIII, XIV, XV and their descriptions
  • Dutch translation published in 1751    

Primera[-tercera] parte de los veinte y un libros rituales i monarchia indiana: con el origen y guerras, de los indios occidentales, de sus poblaçones: descubrimiento, conquista, conuersion, y otras cosas maravillosas de la mesma tierra: distribuydos en tres tomos / compuesto por F. Juan de Torquemada [1723]

  • Related to: Mexico
  • Relevant Contributor: Juan de Torquemada 
  • Part of the Gutiérrez Collection of Books

Resumen histórico de las principales naciones que poblaron el país de Anahuac, o Virreynato de Nueva España. [179-?]

  • Related to: Mexico
  • Part of the Gutiérrez Collection of Books

Sitten und Meinungen der Wilden in Amerika : mit Kupfern. [1790]

  • Related to: Brazil, the Caribbean, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Mexico, Peru
  • Relevant Contributor: Johann Georg Purmann
  • Illustrations: People
  • Part of the Gutiérrez Collection of Books

The history of America, from its discovery by Columbus to the conclusion of the late war : with an appendix, containing an account of the rise and progress of the present unhappy contest between Great Britain and her colonies / by William Russell, Esq. of Gray's-Inn. [1778]

  • Related to: Antigua, the Caribbean, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Panama, Puerto Rico
  • Relevant Contributor: William Russell
  • Illustrations: Landscapes and views, people
  • Part of Gutiérrez Collection of Books 

Varias historias de los primeros descubridores de las Indias. [174-?]

  • Related to: The Caribbean, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Florida, Haiti, Mexico
  • Relevant Contributors: Andrés González de Barcía Carballido y Zúñiga, Fernando Colón, Francisco López de Gómara, Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés, Ulrich Schmidl
  • Part of the Gutiérrez Collection of Books