ARCHIVES IN THE CITY OF MEXICO. 
INTRODUCTORY. 
ARCHIVES CONSULTED. 
By far the most important archives in the city of Mexico are those of the 
federal government. They consist primarily of an Archivo General y Publico 
de la Nacion, commonly called the Archivo General, and of separate archives 
for each of the great secretariats, or departments of the national government. 
Of these there are the secretariats of Foreign Relations (Secretaria de Rela- 
ciones Exteriores) ; Justice (Justicia) ; Encouragement, Colonization, and 
Industry (Fomento, Colonizacién, é Industria) ; Government (Gobernacidn) ; 
Estate, Public Credit, and Commerce (Hacienda, Crédito Publico, y Comer- 
cio) ; War and Marine (Guerra y Marina) ; Public Instruction and Statis- 
tics (Instruccién Publica y Bellas Artes) ; and Communications and Public 
Works (Comunicaciones y Obras Publicas). Of great importance also are 
the manuscript collections in the National Museum (Museo Nacional) and 
the National Library (Biblioteca Nacional). 
Of municipal archives in the city of Mexico only those of the Ayuntamiento 
are noted here. Other central collections briefly treated are those of the 
Cathedral, the church of Santo Domingo, and the Congregation of San Felipe 
Neri. 
DIFFERENTIATION OF THE CENTRAL ARCHIVES. 
The great majority of the manuscripts of value for the history of the 
United States in the Archivo General y Publico, the Museo Nacional, the 
Biblioteca Nacional, and the ecclesiastical archives examined at the city of 
Mexico relate to the Spanish régime, while, on the other hand, most of those 
in the archives of the secretariats bear dates subsequent to the era of Inde- 
pendence, since which time these departments have been established. Thus, 
among the central archives, the investigator of recent history will in the main 
be interested in different repositories from those to which the student of early 
history will resort. It is to be noted however that as time passes there will be 
found an increasingly large amount of modern material in the Archivo Gen- 
eral y Publico, since from time to time the secretariats are transferring those 
of their files which are no longer in current use (expedientes concluidos) to 
that general repository. This transfer will in all probability be greatly accel- 
erated as soon as the Archivo General y Publico is provided with the space 
and conveniences that it needs and merits. 
